


I'm not an idiot!

by Luan_Lee



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Apex Games, Betrayal, Bottom Mirage | Elliott Witt, Drama, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Friends to Enemies, How Do I Tag, Idiots in Love, M/M, Murder, Sad with a Happy Ending, Violence, loba is their wingman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-21
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:26:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 24,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26029423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Luan_Lee/pseuds/Luan_Lee
Summary: "forget about him he's just an idiot. A clown, an arrogant guy with a cute smile.... I mean not cute, he's not cute at all! He's flirting with everyone and so carefree and full of himself it makes me sick to watch him."Crypto despise Mirage, he can't stand this man, but for some strange reason he feelt bad for being rude.-The story is about a sudden event, which changed their everyday life. Enemys become friends and friends become enemys. Who can you trust now?This story includes of course Crypto×Mirage, blood and murder...There may be other ships, but I'm not sure yet :3---------The original story is on my wattpad! @TatonkaTanshii . Also English isn't my native tongue so there might be a lot of mistakes. I hope you enjoy it nevertheless. ❤️
Relationships: Crypto | Park Tae Joon/Mirage | Elliott Witt
Comments: 12
Kudos: 48





	1. I hate him

"You're blocking my way, old man. Move." Elliott turned around and glared at him, not saying anything and not moving an inch.

_"Why do I always have bad luck? It's non other than my dear friend Crypto."_

Crypto, or Tae Joon Park, looked at Mirage indifferently, waiting for him to move ,but the trickster didn't even think about giving in. "There's enough space to just walk around me.", he said with little anger in his voice.

_"I'm still not over our 'little fight', but I'm not the one who started it, really! Well maybe I'm also at fault... But he doesn't even try to apologise, he's just.... Well avoiding me, the star of the games, and being very rude."_

The asian man looked at him still with the same coldness and raised one brow before he opened his mouth like he wanted to protest. "Whatever, ...I don't discuss with idiots." He walked past Mirage, hitting him with his elbow while walking, ignoring the glare of the other man. "What the hell man?!" Elliott turned around following the disappearing silhouette of Crypto with his eyes before he went to his own room shutting the door close. "Why ist he so...so.... Just what did I do to deserve this?!" Mirage threw himself on his bed and digged his head in one of his pillows. He was mad. He didn't understand why he was that upset about a fight with ...well actually a stranger. He didn't knew anything about this man, only his legend name, and the fact that he was a hacker or something like that..."Smarty-pants didn't even told me his real name when I asked politely last time..." He snorted into the pillow.

There are people who like Mirage and people, who hate him or think he's annoying, he didn't really care. Even if they hated him he was in the spotlight and that was all that matters to him.... But for some strange reason was Mirage very upset about being treated like trash by this guy.

* * *

'flashback- the incident' 

Mirage and Crypto were sitting side by side in one of the houses, injured while the air strike of Bangalore exploded outside. Mirage looked at Wattsons banner before putting it back in to his pocket. "I'm sorry sweetie there is no respawn beacon.." his voice was deep and rough and he groaned quietly in pain holding his bleeding side. Crypto wasn't in a better condition.

There were only three other squads left and Crypto felt exhausted, but didn't let anybody know. He didn't sleep well last night. He thought about Mila and the syndicate, hoping they didn't notice anything yet. It was very tiring to keep up the guard every second, but he had to endure it for the sake of Mila. He knew she was still alive. Before he got to deep into thoughts Mirage poked him lightly at his arm while grinning like an idiot. At least that was what Crypto thought. "Hey it's still indi- indice- indecivi-.... We still have the same amount of kills..." For a moment he looked slightly embarrassed for his speaking disorder and it was kind of cute, "...but I'm going to win this, just watch me, kid." Mirage added. Crypto looked at him annoyed and unimpressed "You're thinking too high of yourself.".

They were still challenging each other like they did in Cryptos first match and while they argued, they didn't noticed the hunter, who approached them, only when bloodhound pointed his peacekeeper right into cryptos face. "Watch out smarty-pants!" Mirage pushed Crypto to the side and unholstered his wingman. The trigger was pulled and the bullets hit Crypto on his shoulder what made him whine quietly. Mirage shot every last bullet he had at their enemy who fell to the ground, not moving anymore. They were both shocked, not moving or saying anything before Crypto looked at bloodhound and then at Mirage who suddenly wore a big smile and said something really dumb. Crypto couldn't even talk back or be angry or grateful for Mirages rescue before a sudden pain in his back and the ticking of an arc star appeared. Everything went black after the explosion and Bangalores laughing was the last thing they heard.

* * *

Crypto walked down the hallway, angry about his teammates, especially Mirage. No, not his teammates made him angry, it was only Mirage, who was still in the medical wing with some other legends, recovering from the rough battle. Crypto wasn't that affected and only felt a slightly pain in his back and on his shoulder. He didn't know why, but Mirage made him angry. Maybe he was one of those people who would make you angry without any reason, just like Mila said, back then when they were kids. Crypto was annoyed of all this joking and he didn't liked how this idiot was so joyful, arrogant, flirty and cheeky. He tried not to think about the last minutes of his game. But he clearly remembered Mirages last words before they both got caught by the explosion.

"Now it's 9:8 for me ,kid."

He was mad, no angry. No that's not it. He was annoyed and didn't wanted to see this idiot again. It would be the best for both of them so he decided to do some research to distract himself a little.

_"There is still enough time to look through the last document without being disturbed"_

Crypto walked through the corridor when a woman approached him from behind while calling out his name, "crypto! Wait! We need to talk! It's about your fans!" The woman was like a secretary, or something like that. She was also the one who told him about the rules for the games, what would happen when he died during the game and many other things he needed to know. Crypto turned around, his face looked really repellent because his time was running and the file was still waiting for him. The woman finally reached him and brushed her brown hair back. "I have great news! Look at this!" She pointed at a paper with some stats. "What about them?" Crypto looked up from the paper into her eyes. He was not really interested. "Your fans increased since your last game. The fans love your quarrel with Mirage. It seems like he is pulling you into the spotlight too." The woman smiled phony, her whole presence and character seemed like a facade. It was all fake... she was working for the syndicate and that was enough of a reason for Tae to be very suspicious. He couldn't trust anyone.

He wasn't happy about what she told him, it was the exact opposite to be honest. "Is that something to be happy about?" He said passive aggressive and turned around to continue his way. "I'm sorry, but I'm busy right now." He walked away without looking back , leaving the confused woman alone.

_"How can somebody be happy about being in the spotlight, behaving like a clown just to please the fans? And now he's pulling me into his light too?! I hate him."_


	2. I need a helping hand

Mirage was still laying on his bed when suddenly someone knocked at his door. He raised his head and frowned. He didn't want to move but when the person knocked again, almost desperately he finally stood up and walked to his door to open it. The first thing he spotted was the bright smiling face of the screen from the large robot. "Hi friend! How are you today? You look terrible!" His screen changed to an exclamation mark. "Maybe you are still not fully recovered from the game?".

Mirage sighed and smiled at the robot. "No, no I'm fine. I'm just...tired". "Tired?" Pathfinders screen showed a question mark. "Humans are difficult to read sometimes, I still have a lot to learn!" His smiling face was back and he jumped a little from one feet to the other. "Oh Friend, I'm not only here to talk to you. Ajay asked me if you could help here with her charming little drone.". Mirage rubbed his neck and closed his eyes for a second before he answered "yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes. Do you like her drone buddy?" He grinned at Pathfinder, who shifted his weight from one leg to the other and his screen turned to a smiley with heart-shaped eyes "of course! She is very helpful in combat.". "Hmm that's all?" Mirage couldn't help but smile at his friend while he fixed his hair in his mirror. Pathfinder always thought of Elliott as his best friend since he helped him out and told him not to trust every human being. Elliott was nice enough to tell the robot even thought he was afraid of him. Now that's all in the past. Pathfinder wasn't always the best person to talk to, especially when he wanted to talk about his broken heart or something like that crap, but he was very understanding and had good advices.

"Should there be any other reason friend?" Pathfinder looked at him in confusion, not getting what mirage meant. "It's nothing, just joking around." Mirage felt a lot better with him around and left his room with the big robot by his side. "Path?". Pathfinders screen changed again from happy to an question mark "what's up friend?". Mirage rubbed his neck once again and looked away "I know that sounds cheesey but... Thanks for being here with me.". Pathfinder almost jumped and his screen turned to his heart-shaped eyes face " you're welcome, I love you too!". Mirage just smiled at his friend. Sometimes he was very childish, but you shouldn't underestimate him. He was more like a killer machine in the ring.

They reached the 'workshop-area' and the first thing Elliott noticed was Natalie, who sat on the ground, working on her interception pylon, wires hanging almost sadly out of the opening on the side. "What are you doing on the ground miss wattson? There is a workbench just for you?" Mirage winked at her and noticed caustic , who was admiring the work of the engineer woman. "Oh Elli! It's you." She looked up from her work " I don't want a workbench and I need some space for my tests later on." She smiled at him and greeted Pathfinder, who followed the man through the doorway and headed to his spot. "Ajay is waiting for you.".

Mirage just nodded and headed to Ajays working place. Her drone was laying on the table and seemed to be completely fine at first glance. "Took ya long enough to get 'ere!" Lifeline sat on the workbench and smiled at him. "Beauty needs it's time." Mirage only shrugged and took one of the working gloves from his workbench. Ajay only rolled her eyes and answered "there's somethin' wrong with her eye. Sugar can't see anymore...". Elliott looked at the drone and removed the casing of 'the head' of the so called 'sugar'. Ajay watched him carefully. "The projector is broken inside... You need to replace the lenses and the pcx condensor. They are just broken nothing too serious." Mirage pointed at the small parts and Ajay seemed relieved and patted his shoulder "thank you. I can handle this by myself. Call me if ya need any help, ya hear me?". "No thanks needed, I do take the bribes though." He received a little punch after saying that and they both laughed.

* * *

He decided to take a shower and get ready for lunch when Natalie stopped him all of a sudden "Hey Elli.". Mirage turned around to look at her without saying anything, just listening. "Uhm...I'm just curious... Are you and crypto....back to normal?". It hit him really hard, when Natalie asked him about their little fight. He had almost forgotten about the annoying hacker and once again he felt like he was misunderstood and not treated fairly. He went with his hand through his hair and smiled, it wasn't a real smile, but what about 'mirage' was real anyway? "Uhm ..not really, but it's normal...I guess. We always quarrel and stuff and on top of that, the fans like it.". Wattson crossed her arms and raised one brow "hmm... but you guys are fighting more than usually..... and we are outside the ring so fanservice isn't needed.". Mirage felt like he was cornered and laughed nervously "it's just a small fight. Don't worry it's not all that bad." Wattson wasn't convinced but gave in and let him go, maybe because his stomach began to rumble during their conversation.

He went back to his room walking past bloodhound who greeted him with a nod and didn't seem to be angry about loosing against the holografic trickster. Bloodhound never was a bad looser.

" _Would be nice to play in their team again from time to time and I really hope not to be teamed up with this nerd_. _He's so annoying..._."

He took a quick shower and went to the kitchen to make himself something to eat, but of course, it was surely his luckiest day, there was non other than the hacker guy himself, sitting on the table, eating fried noodles and vegetables while scrolling through his phone. Their eyes met and they just stared at each other before mirage broke away walking straight to the fridge to pull out the needed ingredients. Nobody spoke. They just hold on to the akward silent, being fully aware of each others presences.

It was terrible. Mirage couldn't stand it any longer and put his plate down on the table across crypto and sat down. "C'mon man, are you still angry about loosing against me?". Crypto looked up from his plate with a face as cold as ice "do you think I'm angry about such a trivial matter?". Mirage was confused "So..what are you angry about? I mean what did I do.". The other man seemed to scan mirage with his eyes, like his little flying drone would do in the ring "I don't like you and I don't want to have anything to do with you.". He raised from his seat and went to the dishwasher, ready to leave but mirage stopped him. "Wait!" He decided not to grab his shoulder to make the hacker stay. The memory of the time when his arm almost got ripped off just because he startled smarty-pants was still going through his head . "Can we at least... behave 'normal'? You know, ...you don't need to like me" his chest tightened just for a moment, but he continued anyway "...just... You can just ignore me without giving me death-glares, no that would be fine too.... I mean you don't need to say anything or do besi-", "get to the point" cryptos hands went back into his pockets and he raised his head to look properly at mirage who was just a little bit higher than him. Mirage rubbed his neck "er... Yeah sure, sorry... What I wanted to say: It will influence both of our performances in the ring, so... yeah...". Crypto looked at him for quiet a while before he answered "very well. But don't get in my way anymore, I really do hate you.". He turned around and left, again leaving mirage behind with mixed feelings. He was angry but somehow regretted to be that mean to the trickster.


	3. call me

The next three days went by without any problems. They both avoided each other, but it wasn't the right thing to do. At least that's what Elliott thought. He wasn't happy about their situation and tapped restless with his fingers on the big table. Lunchtime was already over and only Caustic and he himself were still in the kitchen. Caustic looked annoyed at Mirage while filling his cup with black coffee "could you stop being so noisy? Go to somebody else and annoy them instead of me.". He looked at Mirage and his face told the younger man not to answer and it worked. The scientist grabbed his book and his cup and left the room. Mirage dropped his head on the table and sighed. "Im not even in the mood to fool around. And nobody has time to go drinking with me...well, path does, but he doesn't drink.... Why am I even talking to myself. Wow I need some friends." He looked at his phone and stared at the screen, it almost seemed like his phone put him into some kind of trance. He blinked a few times and decided to scroll through his contacts and eventually stopped when he reached a certain number. He pressed the button and waited for the other person to pick up.

* * *

_"I can't concentrate. I'm sitting here since hours without any sleep and I'm still on this file. It's not that hard. I only have to translate the code, but why am I always thinking about him?!"_

Crypto frowned and rubbed his face with one hand. He had dark rings under his eyes and yawned quietly. His eyes hurt and he could see the bright screen of his laptop even when his eyes were closed. It was clearly a sign to take a break so he closed the file, which he was working on and shut his laptop down to get some fresh air. He couldn't help but to think about Mirage once again, he really didn't want to encounter him.

" _Just forget about him he's just an idiot. A clown, an arrogant guy with a cute smile.... I mean not cute, he's not cute at all! He's flirting with everyone and so carefree and full of himself it makes me sick to watch him."_

Crypto was heading to the front door when he suddenly heard someone speaking outside.

"Yeah... No I'm not- ... Mom.."  
Crypto was just about to turn around when he recognized the voice and wanted to use the other exit to leave the building, but stopped all of the sudden, "...i-it's me, Elliott...... your son....". Mirages voice was not that joyful and cheeky like always, it was lower and sounded kind of sad. Crypto didn't mean to eavesdrop the phonecall between Mirage and his mother, but he was too curious. He never heard this serious tone from the trickster. "Yeah, yeah don't worry... I'm fine as always!" He laughed but one could feel his worry and the sad and restless mood he was in, even when Crypto didn't see him he could imagine his facial expression. "I-... Yeah.... I'll visit you soon...yop... Bye, love you too...".

He heard Mirage sigh on the other side of the door. Crypto didn't know what happened, did his mother just...not recognize her own son? He felt sorry for the other man. He was sorry about calling him carefree and fake, when he did have a 'real' him an not only his fake persona called Mirage after all. He heard Mirage talking to him self and his restless footsteps which went quite along with his voice until there was complete silence. Crypto opened the door after a while and was greeted by a fresh breeze. The sun was setting and would soon disappear behind the mountains. It was indeed pretty and he was happy about his decision to leave his room to clear his head with some fresh air, but he couldn't think about anything else than that phonecall. He spotted Mirage, who sat on the stairs not too far away from the building. He was playing with one of his Holo devices, which blinked blue from time to time.

Tae was standing right beside Elliott before he even realized it. Mirage looked up in confusion and seemed worried and annoyed at the same time. Crypto catched up and began to speak, otherwise it would have been very strange to walk to him without saying anything. "Ya', are you okay?". He wanted to slap himself really hard for what he said. It was absolutely weird for him to ask this, on top of that he was asking the person he avoided and hated the most...no it was not hate, it was more like... dislike. He despised him. Mirage blinked at him in confusion "er...yeah, I'm good, I'm good...why... are **you** of all peopleasking me that?". Crypto raised one brow "can't I?". "Of course you can, it was just....I didn't expect you to ask, you know... I mean we were ignoring each other and stuff and-" Crypto shut Mirage up, whilst holding his finger in front of his lips, "shush, I already understand.". Mirage was embarrassed and turned his head away. He didn't understand why but he was feeling a little better since crypto joined him. He thought he didn't want to see the hacker ever again, but somehow he was kind of relieved.

They went silent after that for a while until Crypto broke it " _I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but I heard your conversation with your mother before... well a part of that."_ That was what he wanted to confess, but somehow he felt bad about it, he shouldn't had stay back there, but the other part of him said otherwise, even if he wasn't his friend and had no excuse to 'help' him out. He decided to just ask again and keep his joint knowledge to himself "are you really alright?". Mirage smiled fake at him "yeah, I'm tellin' ya, I feel exceli- excec- excell-... I'm good.". Then there was this awkward silence again and neither of them spoke.

Once again the silence was broken but it was Mirage this time, who smiled cheekily at Crypto "so did you have a change of hearts or why are you suddenly this nice? Did my charm get to you?" He winked at Crypto, who narrowed his eyes, looked cold again, "your charm is getting nowhere, idiot.". Mirage looked at him a little offended "of course it is?! I mean where did my fans come from if they don't like me? And I'm not an idiot!". "mullon dangsin-eun, why did I even worry about you, you're just an arrogant, stupid, naive, and hilarious flirty guy who seeks for attention." Crypto crossed his arms and stared at mirage, who did the same. "Hilarious?! Stupid?! You know, I know everything in my area of expertise, everything! I could do even more with my devices than what the syndicate allows me to use in the actual game!". Crypto was surprised to hear that. He was always fascinated about the technology, but he didn't let anyone know. He raised his brows "so it's the syndicates fault that your not using your full potential? **If** there even is potential at all.  
Your just a fake 'star', with the technology given by your mother. You didn't even manufactured them by yourself". It was a little bit harsher than he wanted it to be, but Tae was so angry at him, he couldn't hold back. Mirage looked at him in shock, he didn't understand how the man knew about his set, given by his mother, but it made sense. Crypto is a hacker after all. "The one I'm currently wearing isn't from my mother smarty-pants! I made it myself!", "With the blueprints of your engineer mother I see." He had enough and walked down the stairs. "Ha! Just go! Like you always do, your such a pussy . Can't even fight with me properly!" Mirage stood up, his hands clenched into fists and his face a little red and full of anger. Crypto stopped, turned around, walked back to Mirage and pushed him on the ground. The poor man couldn't even do anything. One of his arms was held down by the surprising strong force of crypto and the other one was unmovable because the asian man stepped on it. He groaned quietly in pain and tried to free himself, but when he felt the cold blade of a knife on his neck, he didn't dare to move an inch. "Don't mess with me, idiot". They looked at each other without saying anything before crypto released mirage and continued his way downstairs.


	4. This is going out of hand

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sry guys I was very busy and forgot to upload here! pls forgive me!!!

Mirage stared at his drink like he was in some kind of trance. His arm still hurt where Crypto stepped on and he slightly rubbed the place while whining. After their little encounter he decided to go drinking by himself. He was pissed off of the younger man and felt like drinking. He knew he couldn't avoid his problems, they wouldn't go away after a drink or two, but he could at least forget them for a moment, make them endurable. He thought it wouldn't be that bad to be alone in a bar. There were some hot people and he ordered his favorite drink, but he couldn't enjoy it at all and started to order more in frustration.

He was a little inebriated, when suddenly someone sat down beside him. It was Ian, a friend who went through the same terror as him. The frontier war. "Hey buddy, it's been a while. Need some company?" The blonde man brushed his hair back and looked at him with a smile. Mirage turned around and blinked a few times "oh it's you bro, yeah that would be nice. I'm all alone h-here." He looked really offended "you know, nobody got time, only Path, but you know....he's a r-robot... Soooooo... yeah..god I think I drank too much." He rubbed his forehead. Ian laughed at him and patted Elliott's shoulder "it's okay it's your bar anyway so it doesn't matter if you fall asleep, nobody is going to chase you out.". Mirage smiled and tried to activate one of his Holo devices, but stopped when he realized he didn't even put them on before going here "Oh it's no bambo- bamzo- bam-bamboo- argh! No time to fool around I guess...". The man laughed again "it's fine, it's fine. You don't need to play Mirage, just be Elliott." Ian was well aware of Mirages act, because he knew him before 'Mirage' was born. He was his last friend, who knew about Elliott, the others never saw the true him, the miserable little man, who was alone and scared, not at all what he wanted to be. He nodded and take another sip of his drink, it tasted a lot better than before. He looked around and spotted a muscular and great built man, who almost stared at him, but Elliott looked away after their eyes met.

" _Why is he staring at me?"_

* * *

Crypto returned a long time ago from his little walk, but he felt even worse than before. Not because his walk was exhausting or something like that. He was annoyed about what happened between him and Mirage, who was still gone.

 _"Probably flirting with somebody or crying in a corner_ "

For some reason he wanted to talk to him, hear him out and get to know more about his situation with his mother, but he didn't wanted to see him either and wasn't supposed to butt in in his life. He was thinking way too much about his 'enemy'. He couldn't deny that he was worried about Mirage being alone and sad after his phonecall. His words were too harsh and he regretted being like a bully, but he didn't understand why this guy made him angry. He was so confused about this whole situation and decided to talk to him, clear things out and get on good terms. Maybe then he would be able to rest.

He waited in the entrance room and stared at the door, but Mirage didn't return and it was already late. He got really nervous and shifted his weight from one to the other foot while waiting. He didn't even notice Pathfinder, who stood beside him, until the robot started to talk, which made Crypto jump. "hello friend, have you seen friend Mirage? Is he already back?" His screen showed a question mark. "No, I haven't. Do you know where he might be?" Crypto knew Path and Mirage were some kind of best friends, at least Pathfinder called him that. Pathfinders screen changed to a crying face "I hope he's doing alright. He told me to stay here and went off alone. I'm worried something might happen to friend Mirage.". Crypto was a little bit shocked, his eyes wide open "he told you to stay here? Why? Aren't you friends?". Pathfinders screen loaded for some time, like he was thinking about something, then an exclamation mark appeared "of course we are, he's my best friend! He told me he needs some time for himself, that's why I'm here. Say friend...". Crypto looked at him with a face, which told the robot to continue, ".. could you contact or wait for friend Mirage? I need to sign some important folders.". "Yeah, leave that to me." He only realized after saying these words, what they meant and wanted to slap him self again. He made a mental note: You should think before talking. Pathfinders screen changed to the smiling face "great! Thank you! See you later ,maybe." The robot wanted to turn around and leave the confused man behind, but was grabbed on his arm. "Wait, where did he go? I mean Mirage." Crypto had to know and looked really serious at the blue robot. "Most likely at his bar, he doesn't go out that much. Only to work at his bar or visit his mother..... Oh I think I wasn't supposed to reveal that. Please delete the latest part from your brain folder.". Crypto let him go and nodded without saying anything. Pathfinder went into his room and left the confused Crypto alone.

* * *

The smell of alcohol and cigarettes was lingering near the bar in the alleys. Crypto quickly went to the entrance and entered. He didn't know why he was in such a hurry or why he even went to the bar to search for Mirage. He spotted the searched man sitting beside a tall guy, who pulled Mirage close to him with his big, muscular arm.

" _I knew it! He was flirting.....with some...well, I_ _didn_ 't _knew he likes men too"_

Crypto was angry for some reason. And Mirage was pretty drunk. His cheeks were all red and his eyes wandered around ,not really focused so Crypto decided to watch them from afar, just in case . The man stood up and pulled Mirage to the entrance, who seemed to try to resist, but failed. Crypto didn't know what to do, maybe it was a friend or even his lover and Mirage was just stubborn. But it also could be a suspicious person who wanted to use the drunk man, so he followed them. The tanned man started to pull Mirage to a car ,that's when Crypto went to stop them. "Ya', let go of him. I'm here to pick him up. He's my... friend." Crypto locked eyes with the tall man, who looked angrily at him. "Who are you?! His friend?" There was a little panic in the man's eyes "everybody could pretend to be a friend. I am his lover, am I right?" Mirage freed himself from the grip of the man and stared at him "l-lover? Y-you just tried to take me wi-with you and ....and pr'obably fuck me or something like t-that! Youuu even kissssed me!". The man was shocked "huh the drugs didn't work?!". Crypto looked really angry now "durgs?! Do you even know who you're talking to?!" He was just about to punch the man in the face, but he got quickly in the car and drove away. "Hey!" Crypto wanted to beat the man up and almost forgot about the drunk, no drugged, Mirage beside him, who was trying to stand by himself, but ended up leaning against Cryptos shoulder.

_"How dare they drug Mirage? There's no way they didn't knew about him, he's so popular, there's just no way! And didn't they thought about the consequences? Like..."_

_"_ Fuck!...m-my head- is spinning...". Mirage held his hand against his forehead and groaned like he was in big pain. That's when Crypto snapped out of his thoughts and turned around with a really concerned look. All of his anger almost disappeared and was replaced with great worry. He held Mirages shoulders to stabilize him. "Witt, what were you thinking?! What did this guy do to you? Why are you so careless and get yourself drugged?? Idiot!" Mirage just looked at him and Crypto could almost feel Mirages heat, just by looking at his red, feverish looking face.

" _God, he looks terrible! I shouldn't let my anger out on him. I'm such a monster..."_

Crypto didn't even let Mirage speak, he brought their foreheads for a brief moment together to check his temperature, what made Mirage flinche and blush even more in a crimson red. "You might have a fever... How do you feel? Are you in pain?" His voice was somehow calm like a lullaby, but also really serious and with a little glimpse of anger, Mirage was scared to say something wrong and be left alone as result...and that would be fatal in his current state.

He really didn't expected to be drugged and almost abducted from this strange man. He didn't really remembered what happened, his head was a mess. Everything was turning and Cryptos pretty face was deformed and shifting from shape to shape. His head did hurt really bad before, but now he was just feeling hot and dizzy. This drug seemed to make him feverish ... And needy. Like he was in heat or something like that.

" _Fuck! He really did want to fuck me.... f-force me...if this gets any worse, I would've let him do as he please..."_

He opened his mouth and every word was so hard to speak, it was tiring. "Not re-ally... I'm just d-----izzy." Crypto looked at him for a moment, like he was thinking. His face was so weird. He looked _concerned_. Was Mirage already dreaming? Was he hallucinating and everything was just in his head? Maybe there was no Crypto, no annoying, angry, know-it-all and crazy hot guy to save him. He couldn't understand why Crypto was there, they were fighting. He clearly remembered that annoyed face and the anger in his cold eyes. Why would he suddenly care for Elliott? Save him above all. Maybe everything was just a _Mirage_ , maybe his whole world was a Mirage, like he himself. "Let's get home..." That was the last thing Mirage heard before passing out. He felt strong arms wrapped around his waist to support him and would've blushed once again, if he wasn't already drifting away into unconsciousness.


	5. save space

"you idiotic, incompetent, incapable bastard!" The slim man hit his fist angrily on the wooden table in front of him, what made the tanned, muscular guy flinch. The lights were dim and only a few outlines of the furnitures were to be seen. It looked like some kind of office.

In front of the trembling man, behind the table, stood the slim man. His presence was enormous and super intimidating.  
"The drug didn't wo-" the voice was poor and low of the henchman and he couldn't even end his sentence, when the older stepped in, his eyes full of anger, as if there was a fire burning within them "it takes a while before the actual effect come across, you --! " he held himself back from hitting the man and immediately tried to calm down. The scared guy didn't dare to speak against the dominant other and only watched silently, when the angry man scratched his beard. He went quiet for a while, eyes still layed on his henchman. Then the deep voice echoed again through the small, dark, but tidy room. It was cold as ice, so cold and sharp, it could've cut a rock in two "where is he now?". The tanned man looked afraid and confused. "I mean the target." The man behind the table added, still staring at the other. "Er... There was another guy, I didn't know him, he said, he was a friend and... people were watching. I couldn't-" , "another guy? Even a Friend?" A wicked smirk appeared on his face "that's interesting..."

* * *

Crypto closed the door to his apartment and placed the half sleeping Mirage on his couch. He stretched himself and sighed before looking at the reddened, beautiful face.

" _How did it even come to this?! Me, letting this guy into my save space."_

He went with his half synthetic hand through his hair and closed his eyes.

_"Okay, this is just like helping a college. He needs help and there is nothing more behind this. Even Caustic would help Witt in this state... But he wouldn't let him in his apartment... Well I couldn't let him sleep on the floor. He's fucking drugged with..who knows what!"_

He pulled his coat off and grabbed a bottle of water, before returning to his visitor. "Ya', Witt. Are you awake?" He hold the bottle into his direction, "drink.". Mirage shook his head like a little kid and pouted "noooooo- I don't want to.". He turned his face away, and looked around, just realizing he wasn't in his own apartment. "I didn't **asked** you to, it's an order. So drink..... please." Crypto was standing, no he was hovering above the sitting Mirage, who finally grabbed the bottle and removed the cap. "Y-yeah okay, okay. Anything for you honey.".

" _Honey_ _?!_ "

Cryptos cheeks were tinted in a light rosy color, but Mirage didn't notices in his current state. Why did he call Tae Joon 'honey', and why did he himself blush because of that?! Crypto stared at him for a moment his eyes in thin lines, while Mirage took some sips, putting the bottle down and leaning back against the couch. "Thank you ...uhm... Crypto..." Mirage wanted to thank him, but didn't know how to address the hacker expect from 'Crypto' or the nicknames he gave him. Crypto sat down beside him and talked almost inaudible with his calm gentle voice, "don't mention it...".

Then they went quite for a while. It was awfully quiet, so quiet, maybe too quiet, Tae thought he could hear the heavy heartbeat of Mirages hea-... Or was it his own heart? No. Why should his heart beat like crazy when he's currently sitting beside the most annoying person in the world? Wouldn't make sense to him. So he kept saying to himself it was Mirage, who was still red and.... A little sweaty, but not in the disgusting way...it was kind of _sexy,_ but Crypto wouldn't admit it.

He turned around to look at Mirage and noticed the tears in the corner of his puffy red eyes (from the drug). "Hey, what's up? Mira-... E-...Elliott? Are you okay?" He leaned a little bit closer to look at him.

_"Did I do something wrong? Why is he crying? is he in pain?"_

Mirage didn't look at him. He covered his face with his hands and sighed. "Yeah.... err I mean no-... no actually..... I don't know." . Crypto looked at him in a gentle manner and seemed to think about something, before he opened his mouth again "... I'm sorry about before. I ... Didn't mean to hurt you." Crypto watched Mirage carefully and waited for any kind of reaction. Was he upset about their fight earlier? Or was he just confused and emotional because of the drug? Or maybe ...... His mother? Mirage turned his head to him, a tear dripping down from his cheek on his pants and Crypto didn't even hesitate one more second before wrapping his arms around Elliott into a tight hug.

Mirage wasn't expecting a hug from the normally cold and rude (at least to him) hacker. He wasn't in the state of thinking straight and his mind was clouded and a complete mess because of this damn drug, but he still thought it was so very unusual..... but cute. The sudden comfort made him burst into tears he didn't know why, but his tears just started to flow. He hid his face in Cryptos shoulder, sobbing and shivering. "Ple-ase just don't l-leave me. I'm all alone." Mirage sobbed uncontrollable until Crypto patted his back to calm him down "shush, it's okay. I'm here, your not alone.". Mirage shook his head and continued to sob, not that much like he did before thought. "No, no....! they are all gone.They left me all alone in this cruel world and- a-and my mmmom will leave me soon too, she couldn't even remember her own son. She for- fore- forgot about me....". Crypto was shocked. He noticed lately that there was something wrong with Mirage. If you watch him carefully enough you notice his sad facial expressions from time to time. Or sentence like 'wow I need some friends' or 'I need to get out more', but he never expected the trickster to be in so much pain.

" _They? Does he mean his parents? No sounds more like other people to me. Friends maybe? Or his ex ? He once talked about her...him?"_

Mirage started to talk again, after calming down a little bit. His voice now quiet and bitter. "They went all MIA,... my brothers, ..... I'm the only one who's left and my mother keeps forgettin' more and more....she always complains about their lazyness.... Asks me every time where they are.........she forgot." He sobbed again and cuddled an inch closer to the asian man. His shoulder was now soaking wet. Crypto shifted to sit a little bit more comfortable. Their body's pressed against each other and feeling the warmth of their body's was strangely calming. He thought he himself had a hard time, loosing his sister and being chased forever by the syndicate, being constantly on the run, but Mirage lost all of his brothers at once and his dad was gone too. He mentioned his father one time while being drunk. "I'm sorry..." Crypto continued to pat Elliott's back.

They sat there a long time without saying anything until Crypto felt weird. They weren't even friends, but Mirage told him his secrets .... Was it because of the drug? He pushed Mirage a little bit away from him to look at his face. His eyes were shut and his mouth slightly open. He was sleeping with and adorable look on his face, his cheeks still red and hot. Crypto smiled and brushed his curly hair out of his face.

" _....cute"_


	6. u-uhm what...?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's getting a bit hot in here :P

"....Hdjsnndjnd-" there was a voice. "jjdjjsksssfrtfj"

" _What_?"

Elliott couldn't see anything, everything was a blur. There were... People (were they people?) in front of him...? He wasn't sure, he couldn't see anything, but dark dots in a white scary and empty space, or room?  
His head hurt like someone just crushed his skull under their feet. Revenant once did so in the ring.....

" _Spooky robot thingy_..."

He tried to rub his eyes, but his hands were cuffed.

_"Huh?? What the hell!?"_

He tried to speak, to scream for help, but there was no sound coming from his mouth.

There was Nothing.

It was like in the Video game Octane played from time to time. As if you were playing with random people in a squad and they are annoying and start screaming into their mics, so you just decided to mute them.

_"What was it's name again... Well whatever. That doesn't matter now, why am I even thinking about something like that in this kind of situation?!"_

He suddenly felt a cold hand on his chest sliding down along his muscles and hot breaths on his neck. And then everything went black and he felt a body weight on him.

" _W-what_ _th_ _-e?!"_

He didn't know what was happening. He couldn't get the idea of a one night stand out if his head, especially with these fuc- ...with these skilled hands on him. Questions filled his painfully pulsing head.  
Were was he?   
Who was... sitting??... On him?  
And why really, _why_ was he so hot?   
He felt like he's going to explode any moment and craved for the touch of the mysterious person.

" _Omg how did I end up with this kinky person? I shouldn't drink that much next_ _ti_ _-"_

He felt a wet mouth on his neck and he- ..he moaned?!   
And then his eyesight was back and he was able to see again, like someone blindfolded him before. Would make sense, wouldn't it?  
The first thing he saw, made him look really dumbfounded. Crypto was sitting on his lap, smiling with his perfect face of an angel like a devil, sliding his absolutely hot hands all over Elliott's body.

" _HOLY FU-"_

He wanted to say something but Crypto pushed his fingers into his mouth. " _Shush now. They will hear you."_ And with that everything went black again.

Then Nothing

* * *

It was.... cold. Why is it cold? Mirage opened his eyes and quickly sat up from the couch he was placed on, sweat was dripping from his forehead as he gasped for air.

_"Where?! What were did he....?!"_

He rubbed his dry and hurting eyes and realized therefore his uncuffed hands. He stared at them and sighed as he noticed more and more that it was just a dumb dream and his face went all red. He did have some dirty dreams from time to time, but Crypto never appeared in his dreams...well not like that. Why should he ? Crypto, or Crypy, was the most rude...okay that's not true, well but he was rude and annoying and all nerdy so why should he ever dream of him and especially in this kind of context?! Elliott was so embarrassed he won't ever be able to look the hacker in the face again without thinking about this dream. His devilish smile and his touch. It made him blush madly just thinking about him.

_"...Crypto would never, and I mean never, do something like that... Unfortunately. Wait....did I just thought unfortunately? I've lost my mind, really."_

His eyes wandered around until his gaze got stuck on a blanket, which was laying on the ground. So this must've been the reason why he felt cold, but the blanket wasn't the only thing 'missing'. He....was half naked, well his pants were still there, only his shirt was gone.

" _This was a dream, right? This definitely was one. But why... Why am I_ _naked_ _then?"_

He looked around and recognized the structure of the apartment. It was the same as his own.... that means he was currently in a legend apartment?! He rubbed his forehead and tried to remember where exactly he was and how he even got here.

".. _I was drinking.... And then_....?"

At first he thought Path picked him up, but this wasn't Paths room. He'd already seen the robots 'home'. It was an apartment he had never seen before so that means.... Revenant's, Caustic's and Crypto's apartment...and Loba's..

" _Should've revived her with my CPR technique last time..."_ (No Elliott, no! XD)

But he was pretty sure they all wouldn't let a drunk Elliott in their home or in general....maybe Revenant would, but if he was at Revenants he would've already been dead or tortured. He shifted uncomfortable around and freezed when he spotted a specific white and green coat.

" _No way...."_

This couldn't be real. This was definitely still the same dream. There is **no way** Crypto would let hi-.   
His memories were crushing back in his head like a waterfall and he couldn't stop wondering what had gotten into him last night. He knew he was more talkative and open while being drunk...or drugged, but to tell Crypto about his past? He told nobody about it, not even Path. He wouldn't be the best partner for this kind of conversation so it was just weird to tell his secrets smarty-pants, unbelievable. He rubbed his forehead again still looking for his shirt, wondering why he wasn't wearing it in the first place, if this really was a dream (the one with the devil Crypy). Of course it was. But still: What did they do after he cried like a baby?

"Oh, Joh eun ha ru. How do you feel?" Mirage felt a hand on his back and his face went all red again. The hand was cold but somehow warm, just like the hands in his dream.

" _This doesn't even make sense you idiot. Cold but warm?!"_

Crypto was standing behind him and felt the shiver from the tanned man through his touch. He quickly pulled his hand away and leaned over the leaning of the couch to take a good look on Mirage's face. "Sorry Witt, I didn't mean to scare you." He chuckled softly and his thick accent, the touch and his wet hair, which glimmered in the morning light, made Elliott's heart skip a beat. He quickly looked away to hide his embarrassment as he started to rumble again "M-mo'ning. Is it morning, or 's it already afternoon? How long was I asleep? Felt like an eternity, ya know what I mean. Oh but when it's still morning, how 'bout crashing at my place for some breakfast? I mean...I mean, Only if you w-want to, you don't need to, I mean you still think I'm annoying an-" "Witt." Crypto was now standing in front of him and the only cloth on him was a towel, bounded around his waist to hide the goods, get it? (Okay Elliott that's too much). His skin was so pale in comparison to his own and seemed so smooth, just like his synthetic skin. It had this kind of hard look of metal but also seemed smooth, it made him want to touch it, but this was definitely a bad idea. All in all Crypto looked stunning.

Elliott had already seen his body once, when Crypto tried his >hype beast< outfit in the ring. It was very hard to concentrate. He remembered how he stared like a Teenagegirl instead of killing him with his longbow. Great mistake, because he got hit by his EMP and a shotgun from Bangalore right in his back. He shook his head and came back to his senses "u-uhm yeah?". "Stop rumbling and get out already" his voice was hard and serious, like always and all the little hope of Elliott ,that Crypto had taken a liking or at least a little more sympathy for him faded away. The hacker threw Elliott's t-shirt to him in a smooth motion, who catched it wordlessly and looked at it. Then he realized it: this wasn't his shirt, it was a new one, it was Cryptos shirt. Crypto was already back at the bedroom door and looked at him "ya', tell me if breakfast is ready, you owe me." Then he just disappear through the door and left him alone in the living room.

" _What?"_


	7. does that mean we're friends now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating for such a long time !  
> I'll make sure to add all of my already written chapters on this page too  
> I hope You enjoy them <3

He heard the sound of his apartment door closing and descending footsteps. He was gone now. Crypto sighed and went to his closet to get dressed. He couldn't help but smile when he thought back at the time when Witt was out cold, sleeping while being hugged. He remembered clearly his hot breaths on his shoulder and those chubby cheeks he wanted to pinch so bad ever since he saw them.

" _What the hell?"_

His smile faded immediately as he got aware of his strange behavior and he rubbed his nose bridge. 14 hours ago he would've punshed Mirage for his annoying behavior and his nonchalant attitude, but now? He felt like comforting him and deep down, he would love to hug this sad soul one more time, but he would **never** admit such a thing. Him, wanting to hug this childish old man? Not going to happen.

He was sitting at his desk, working on some files on his laptop, but it was hard to find what he was searching for. It was like he was searching the needle in a haystack, he felt like he was waisting time, precious time he could use for-... his thoughts were interrupted, when his phone suddenly vibrated and the blinking screen catched his eyes. He got a message.

\-----------

  
 **jal** **saeng** **-gin** **idiot** (=handsome idiot): Hey, uhm... Just wanted to text you, because... Uhm why did I wanted to- ah yeah! Breakfast is ready. Come and get your snack *wink   
This time, I'm not the snack tho.... Okay was this weird now? (10:04 am)

 **jal** **saeng** **-gin idiot** **:** Yeah, it was.   
(10:04 am)

\-----------

Crypto sighed "Idiot". He closed his files, secured everything and shut his laptop down before texting back, but he just stared at the contact name.

" _When did I add him and WHY this name?!... Must've been drunk or something like that"_

He quickly change it simply to 'idiot', for now.

* * *

Elliott was playing with one of his Holo emitters he was currently working at. The room was filled with the nice smell of homemade pancakes. There were also bowls with berries, chocolate and of course syrup. He never made such an effort only if he was treating himself or when he was expecting somebody and this somebody happens to be Crypto in this case. Elliott was sitting at his bar like table, waiting anxiously for an answer from the 'hacker boy'.

" _So does that makes us two friends? Or just comrades?"_

He thought to himself, shifting nervously in his seat. He didn't know why he was so excited about that, probably because he invited his annoying co-worker for breakfast, yeah he was really annoying.. annoyingly handsome!

" _I think it hit me bad this time.... This will never work out."_

But nothing forbid him to flirt. He did it the whole day as Mirage anyway, so there is no difference if he flirts for real now, is it? He couldn't stop thinking about their hug yesterday and he wished to be be hugged like that again. Even if it was only one time, well a few more hugs wouldn't be bad either.

Suddenly his phone rang and he almost fell down from his chair "Gah!". He looked around as if somebody might have seen or heard it, even if this wasn't possible, he was all alone in his room (well Revenant could still appear out of nothingness like a ghost, but he didn't want to think about the scary murderbot). "Stupid phone.... Why is it on full volume anyway?" He checked his phone and his frown instantly vanished and he ran to his apartment door after reading the short message:

\--------

  
 **Pretty hacker boy:**  
Ya, I'm here. Open up old man.

  
\--------

He opened the door with a little bit too much energy, because it swung open and he almost stumbled because of it. There he was, standing outside with his usual clothes and a confused but somehow amused look. "What are you doing, Witt?". One brow was pulled up and he smirked like some evil villain. Elliott straighten himself and brushed imaginary dust from his long sleeve away. "Erm... Uhm.. I... " He looked embarrassed to the ground "n-nothin' " he turned around in a smooth motion, as if he was dancing and waved Tae Joon in "come in, or do you want to stay there for ever? I mean I don't mind if you stay for ever thou- I mean ... Urgh nevermind". Crypto did so without commenting on Elliott's rumbling, secretly looking around instead. He was really curious and maybe a little nervous, but his face remained stoned.   
The room was...flashy. A lot of yellow and red colored furnitures, a modern kitchen and **a lot** of pictures. He couldn't make the motives out from his position, but they were most likely selfies or fan-made pictures.

" _Pfft... He really loves himself."_

He followed Mirage to the kitchen but stopped when he spotted a specific picture in a wooden frame. Mirage continued to walk to the kitchen "I hope you like them, its the Witts family recipe-" but Crypto didn't pay any attention to him, he looked at the picture. There was a family. Four boys and woman all together smiling in the same flashy way.

" _His family? He told me about them last night. They seem so happy..."_

He was reminded of his 'family', if one could call it like that. He never really had a real family. It was only him and his sister, until Mystic took them both in. He loved -no he loves them. He couldn't stop thinking about his misery, but Elliott went through a lot more. Loosing all of his brothers at once in the war and participating in it too? That would explain his deep scars all over his pretty face and his weapon skills. "It's my family." Elliott was suddenly standing beside him and startled Crypto a bit. He was lost in thoughts and didn't even notice since when the trickster got here. "I'm the small one with the crybaby face." His voice sounded strangely calm but also sad.

"Well, let's eat. It will get cold if we don't eat now and these pancakes happens to taste the best when still warm and fluffy" he cracked a smile and turned away from the picture, as if he himself didn't want to look at it anymore. "Yeah, sorry." Crypto sat down on the opposite chair of Mirages 'bar' and digged in.

* * *

"What? That makes it even more complicated!-" the man was talking to somebody else with an angry tone but didn't scream. He brushed his blond hair back and scrubbed his beard "mhmm..mhmm..... No, okay listen up. We won't take the hostile, we will get what we want in another way, a better way, because we'll have an engineer right here in our palms." He took a sip of his whiskey and put the glass down "- yeah. Don't mess it up this time..... Yes. Goodbye". He hung up and turned around to face his files on his tidy table and rubbed with his thumb over a photograph. "Soon you'll be ours" he smirked darkly.

* * *

They were both attending to meetings with their managers, after Crypto thanked Mirage properly for the incredible breakfast. It's been so long since he ate pancakes and it was the first time a cutie made them for him. No, no cutie! He's not cute at all.   
Elliott lost sight of Crypto since then. They met in the hallway from time to time and instead of death glares he received a little nod as greeting, Elliott was a lot happier since then.   
It was one day before the next Apex games and everyone was hyped, or at least Octane was, bouncing in the kitchen area like a ping pong ball. "Ey Amigo! Let's play something I'm so bored." He was almost shouting to Elliott who made himself a cup of tea, machine oil smeared on his face. "No sorry, I have to fix one of my devices. Maybe next time?" He sighed tiredly. He tried to fix his gear since the glitch in his decoys appeared. It's been ..... 10hours, no 5? ...or 3? He didn't watch the time while working, he had that habit of getting fully absorbed into his work and pull all nighters to fix or study more about the holo tech. "Okay amigo, hurry up, if you want to play later." Octane rushed out of the room and left the tired Elliott alone "I think I'll rather sleep instead of playing through the night." He said to himself while returning to his room and settling himself as comfortable as possible in his chair. He needs to check his mails before he continues to fix his gear problem and he really received one. Not from his Mom, not from his manager, not from Crypto... He looked at the mail before opening it:

From: Unknown   
\- blueprints

He finally decided to read it, but what he read made him loose his smile and went all pale.


	8. nailing the solo thing

The air smelled like gunpowder. At least Bangalore would say that now, but she was downed and killed within the first 3 minutes. Caustic, Mirages second teammate, got pushed down the cliff by Wraith, who was still hunting him with her kunai in her hand and her horrifying glare.

His day was absolutely terrible. He forgot to fix his decoy-problem and now, if you watch closely, you can _**see**_ the difference, you can tell the real one from his decoys apart, so having decoys, who doesn't fool anyone was pretty useless at this point....He was pretty useless, some would say, but he was still able to cloak while reviving or respawning (I would still play him 💪🏽). Now he had to depend even more on his battle skills then his abilities.   
The second thing, which only worsened the day, was the current bad game. It's not over yet, he still had a chance to win this, but his optimism already left him yesterday evening, when he got that cursed e-mail and alone the thought of it made him all uncomfortable again, but he was in the game right now, so there was nothing he could do for now.   
"Damn only a few minutes before ring closing, better hurry up and find something to heal. At least I found a level 4 knockdown shield... aaaaand I'm still talking to myself... perfect." He rubbed his tired eyes and finally reached the city. The respawn beacon on the big building was still unused and no sniper was to be seen. This was his chance to recover his teammates banners. He quietly cheered to himself and continued his way. His whole body felt heavy from the lack of sleep and he was shivering from the cold temperature on this damn cold planet (Talos). He sneaked into the building in front of him and rubbed his hands, even thought he was wearing gloves.

_"Idiot, this won't do much"_

He would love to rest in the abandoned building for a moment or get his teammates back right now, so he wouldn't be that paranoid anymore. He reminded himself of Crypto "He always looks around as if somebody is following him. Wonder what this nerd is thinking and what's with that fake personality..." He rubbed his chin and decided to stop talking to himself and get rid of Wraith first, who was still following him, knowing he was an easy target with his longbow, without any optics, and his p2020. She got herself a devotion and a mastiff .... It will surely be his end if she finds him. He hid behind a few boxes in the corner of the room, gripping his pistol really hard, hard enough to stop the blood flow and making his hands all tingly. He could hear the little footsteps and imagined how she spun her little knife in her hand around, ready to stab it right between his eyes.   
To be honest, it was a bad idea to hide from Wraith, because some of her voices could tell her he was just behind these boxes, tell her something like 'hey pretty girl, the handsome guy is just sitting behind these boxes, staring at you'. He knew her voice wouldn't say it like that, would be too good to be real. He did his best to keep quiet and decided to just risk it, maybe not aiming or staring at her would help too. He looked down at his gloves and loosened the heavy grip on his pistol. His glance wandered to his Holo devices on his arm and he was really happy for his choice of armory today, at least one good thing. He was wearing his dark artist outfit, a fully black battle suit with orange accents. Wraith would've seen him for sure, if he had worn 'the revenger' outfit, the yellow version of his current black.

"I'm checking upstairs!" . If you speak of the devil, there he, well she, is, passing by in an blink of an eye and vanished through the other doorway. She didn't see him.

" _She didn't see me?! Oh god. Maybe this day isn't all that bad. At least I don't get ripped into pieces with that nasty kunai of her...for now."_

She continued with her squad to check for the other buildings. He breathed out, relieved to be left alone. There were only 5 other squads left and he was still equipped with a rather bad, for his taste, equipment so he changed his beloved longbow with a hemlock, because a weapon without ammonition in a late game was a big problem. He decided to moved forward, being all sneaky and somehow managed to avoid any fights and got more nervous by every second. He could almost hear the impatient grunting from Caustic and the tapping of his fingers on his gas canisters, waiting in the recovery room and watching his every move through the cameras in the arena.

"Yeeesss! Almost there, only one building between the respawn beacon and myself, Mirage." but his happy cheery (?) mood soon changed into a alarmed...well scared one. There were footsteps.... Fast and heavy footsteps right beneath him in the lower level of the building. He was pretty sure it was Gibraltar and the whirring noise of a drone was to be heard. "Shit, this is going to be a problem, well at least bloodhound isn't her-" he was scanned.

" _Okay, I'm doomed. Goodbye world._ "

They started to fight and Elliott felt like a sandwich, right in the middle of them. He quickly climbed out of the building and spotted Crypto, who had just killed Wraith and was now looting her stuff.

" _Oh no, you're not going to take that baby with you smarty pants"_ _(the devotion)_

He started to shoot at him and downed him much to his own surprise, but he got no time to say something or tease his enemy before Gibraltar knocked him too. "Ey brotha, seems like today's not your day" he stepped to his side, knowing Mirage was cloaking and waited to finish him when Wraiths teammate, Bloodhound, appeared. Elliott quickly crawled into the building while Gibraltars airstrike rained down. It was like he was back at the frontier, bullets everywhere and the raining death crushing down on them. He closed the door and spotted Crypto, kneeling below a desk staring at him when his cloak disappeared. "Pff, so they got you too, old man?" His voice was rough and he coughed blood. Elliott did feel sorry. He was the one who did this to Crypto, but it was their job to kill each other out here. "at least I got to down you, kid" he crawled into the room and smiled at Crypto, even thought they were on opposite teams. "I-I would love to spend my last minutes with you, cutie, but I don't want to bleed out yet. I'm g-going to get back in" he pulled the syringe out and was just about to stab it into his chest when metallic footsteps approached them. Crypto didn't move or say anything when Revenant went down the stairs and immediately laughed when he saw Mirage on the ground, fully exposed to anyone with the syringe in his hand. "Oh, hello there skinsuit." He walked to him with slow steps, the fighting outside was gone and everything was quiet, but Gibraltar or Cryptos other teammate must be still alive, because Crypto was still there watching them silently. "Perfect timing, I was so bored. Let's have some fun together." He grabbed Elliott's neck really hard and hold him up into the air. "P-please stop----stop! Don't eat me!" Elliott was scared. He was always scared of Revenant, I mean he was sort of a killing machine and likes the killing. He would even torture you to death, just to see you suffer until you breathed your last breath and now it seems like Mirage had become his next victim. "Eat you? I would, if I could. Believe me little one." He let Mirage breathe for a moment before choking him again. His other hand was scratching through the thin layers between his armory. "Aarrgh....s-stop! Wh-what do y-y-ou want?" He gasped for air and tried to fight back, to free himself, but he was too weak. The blood was dripping down onto the floor. Crypto was holding his breath, he must admit, he really wanted to help Mirage, but who was he to help him to end this suffering when he was dying himself. Revenant stared blankly with his dead eyes at the pale Mirage in his hand "I want your heart, I could slice it up for a snack, hmmmmmmnn...." And he literally did that. His hand formed itself to some kind of spear like shape and his long fingers went with sickening noises through his skin and flesh, through muscles and shradded his ribs along it's way to the other side of his body. The blood was splashing around, onto the floor, the table, the deathbox beside them, even Cryptos face, who was still watching the whole scene with wide open eyes and shook. "ahhhhh!...urgllhhhh.... Hah.... Argh..." Elliott screamed out of pain, groaned and gasped until his movements stopped. He coughed blood and was slowly drowning, drowning from his own blood which was filling his lungs with every passing second. Revenant let go of him and his body fell down to the floor into the pool of blood right below him and painted his face in different shades of red. The simulacrum only laughed, deeply satisfied as he looked down at his piece of art for a moment and then started to loot Wraiths deathbox. Mirage looked at Crypto with a painful and tired look before his eyes were closing and he was nothing more than corpse, which changed to a deathbox after a moment.

* * *

He woke up and the first thing he saw was the all to familiar ceiling of the medbay. He shifted his glance around the room, but there was no one to be seen. He was all alone so he just closed his eyes again and groaned. He remembered all to well what happened in the ring, he could still feel the cold metal fingers, which were curling up inside him, stabbing his lung and his heart, before ripping through him completely, but there was one thing that didn't left his mind and bugged him even more than the painful memory. Words from a unknown messenger:

**....do you understand? You will do as we say or bad things will be happening in the near future.**


	9. I'm fine, really

Elliott dressed himself up after Ajay told him he was ready to go. It was nothing too bad, but she had to check his broken ribs anyway. The auto healing system of the game fixed most of the damage, but broken bones still needed some treatment and aftercare. Elliott never got how the healing thing worked and as long as he's fine in the end, funktional and pretty, everything was fine.   
Lifeline already left the room a while ago and he needed to go too. There was still.... something he wanted to check. He was not a hacker, but he could at least try to find the source of the mail and handle his little problem with this blackmailer...or -mailers? He opened the door and almost walked into Crypto, who was startled and backed away like a scared cat. "Wuow man, what are you doing in front of-.... W-wait did you want to visit me?" Mirage teased him and smiled after the thought of Crypto wanting to visit him passed his mind. Crypto burried his hands deep into his pockets and looked him right into his eyes, as if he wanted to do a staring contest. "Yeah, I just... got here. Check if everything is alright. Revenant was quite.... brutal" Elliott rubbed his chest and laughed lightly "haha, yeah... Don't worry he stabbed me before. It's not the first time."

" _Wait. Is he worried about me?!"_

"But he never went this far... he didn't just stabbed through you." Crypto tilted his head and looked at him for a moment, before turning around as if he wanted to leave, but remained still in place and scanned him with his dark brown eyes like his little drone. "Good thing you're alright Witt." He fixed his wet hair a little. Elliott could smell the scent of shampoo and it makes him think things he should'nt think of and the image of the Crypto in his last dream flashed back.

" _Oh god no, why now?"_

"He won in the end. Loba was quite angry at her loss against him... I just wanted to inform you." Elliott blinked a few times, coming back to reality and nodded thankfully. There were more important things to do and think of, but it was hard not to think about it, when Crypto looks so beautiful and hot.  
He closed the door behind him, said goodbye before they parted ways and went straight up to his room. He wanted to say something witty, but he was constantly thinking about this damn mail now, he didn't even notice he was making a worried face before leaving. Crypto didn't miss that of course.  
When Mirage finally reached his room and his eyes got stuck on his laptop, he frowned for a second before grabbing his gear and decided to head to the workshop area.

_"I won't give in, bastard/s. No one is getting the blueprints or any of my or my mother's tech!"_

The search for the blackmailer could wait for now.

* * *

The loud noise of Cryptos clock woke him from his deep slumber. He stretched out his tired legs, felling his numb muscles and stared at the ceiling, way too lazy to get up and play another game for this week. He was tired even thought he had enough sleep, so he dressed himself up to get some coffee. Jee, his drone (this was it's name, right?[i wrote this in season 4]) Made happy noises while following his creator, pushing him into the right direction, when he trailed off his path to the kitchen area. Caustic was already at the coffee machine filling his cup and watching the sleepy hacker, when he entered the room. They both didn't say anything to but acknowledged each other with a nod. Caustic was about to leave with one of his books under his arm, when Wattson entered the room with a bright smile "gooood morning Dr. Cauzztic. Hello there Crypto!" She waved at him but her attention went back to Caustic who actually smiled a little, just for a moment "Mrs Paquette" he nodded and left. Crypto thought it was strange how the air around Caustic changed when Natalie was talking to him.

_"He must be really glad to have a fellow scientist at his 'workplace'... Well I would call Witt also some kind of scientist, I mean he's an engineer. I wonder were he is, normally he would chat with Nat while drinking his coffee.... Why am I thinking about him"_

Natalie looked around the room as if she was searching for something. Then she finally looked up to Crypto with worried eyes "have you seen Elli?"

" _Elli? That's a cute name"_

Crypto glanced over to the machine, the coffee was slowly filling his cup. The brown fluid smelled like heaven and steamed deliciously. Damn he really wanted this coffee right now. His attention went back to Wattson "no sorry." This was all he said and he was slapping himself mentally for his lack of social interactions. Wattson frowned and rubbed her arm "oh okay. Can I ask you something ... Crypto?" Crypto looked at her, more surprised than he wanted to look like, his eyes wide open and his brows pulled up, waiting for her to continue to speak "go on". "You know, I shoulzn't interfere, but I was wondering if you and Elli are ... Back to normal. I mean zere was a fight between you." Cryptos facial expressions softened a little bit. He had already forgotten about their fight. He was just mad about Mirage being Mirage. He thought he was just a dumb idiot, who seeks for attention and fame, but has nothing in his brain. He couldn't understand him at first. Why would somebody like to act like the class-clown? But when Witt told him about his past, what happened to him, everything just made sense. He was lonely and he was hiding his real fragile self behind a strong wall of confidence, his Mirage. Your wondering how Crypto knew about all this? Well he's just a genius and put all pieces of the puzzle together. "Yeah, we're... Back to normal, don't worry." Wattson smiled relieved and took a step back "thaz good newz! Could you tell him I'm looking for him, if you see him of course?" She shifted her weight to her other foot and played with her gloves. "I will" he grabbed his cup and took a sip of his coffee and, oh my god, it was heavenly. He felt like curling up like a cat on his bed he didn't even realize he was smiling. "You should smile more cutie" Loba was suddenly standing at the doorway, watching them both. Wattson waved to Crypto and went to Loba, who seemed to be waiting for her. "Let me show you around za bit, you're still new here." They left the room and Crypto behind, who was still caught off guard by her comment. (The quest is not part of my story)

He was ready to leave when he heard familiar footsteps approaching the area. He turned around and was just about to say something to tease Mirage, but his words didn't came out and he looked at him for a moment with an open mouth. "... Witt?! What the hell happened to you?!" He almost spilled his precious coffee on the floor in shock. Mirage was totally beaten up, his face half swollen and bruised. Dark blue and red stains planted almost nicely under his eye and his cheek. His lip was split open, well it was, but the dry blood was still there. He looked at him for a moment, bevor heading to the fridge. "N-nothing serious, just some drunk bastards who felt like beating their bartender up on his way home.... Not the first time." The story was plausible, it could've really happened like that, but something told him Mirage wasn't telling him the truth. He was lying. Maybe it was the way he was shaking or his sad look, his empty eyes which were normal full of energy and confidence. There was nothing left than emptyness. "You should go to Che if you're looking for cool pack (?)" "r-right.." he closed the fridge again and smiled lightly for a moment, but stopped when the pain rushed through him and he winced quietly. Crypto didn't know why but he automatically grabbed Mirages face really carefully so he wouldn't hurt the man and brushed lightly over his cheekbone with his thumb.

He could feel the swollen part and Mirage shut one eye close while inhaling sharply. "Oh sorry, I didn't mean to-" Tae pulled his hands away embarrassed and guilty for hurting Witt. "You should go to lifeline now, it's not too bad. See you in the game, Witt. Oh- and Wattson is searching for you." He walked pass him and tried his best to seem calm and collected, just like he always was. He hurried to his apartment and closed the door behind him leaning against the door, his red face burried in his hands. What the hell did he just do?!

* * *

The game went smooth. Crypto acted normal after their little 'incident' and was teamed up with Mirage again. He did what his manager asked him for and continued his banter with Mirage during their games. He didn't only do it for the show, he liked to tease the younger legend, who didn't know about his real age, still calling him kid even thought he was the kid all along, but there was something off with Mirage. He always wondered how he knew about his fake personalty, when he said something like 'maybe we'll find Cryptos real identity, spread around town' or when he was teasing him with 'carepackage- oh **they** found you Crypto, run!' could he possibly know anything? How? Maybe he's not the fool he took him as.... Well, all that wasn't what was strange about Witt today. He seemed so lifeless, talked less, didn't joke around much and was less dramatic when downed, but his fighting skills didn't suffer. No, they even won this match with Mirage as killleader. "Good work ladies!" Bangalore slapped them both on their back and dropped her g7scout to do so. Mirage smiled lightly and fake laughed. Crypto knew it was a fake one, he had observed his behavior long enough, which was kind of embarrassing. "Haha, yeah good work team. Let's celebrate at the after-party!". He looked at Crypto and they locked eyes for a moment before breaking away, both flustered.

The after-party started and almost everyone was gathered, even Caustic and Revenant were present. Only Wraith and another legend were missing, she had some important appointments and the other legend was no one but Mirage, who was no where to be seen.


	10. a ripped heart

"Where's Witt?" Crypto asked every legend at the party, even Revenant, who just laughed and told him he was definitely murdered after being fucked by one of his customers from his bar. Crypto just ignored the comment and moved on, but no one, not even Path really knew where their fellow legend was. Path was really worried and it took a lot to convince him not to go to the reporters and spread the news of the disappeared friend. Lifeline was currently taking to the blue robot and   
Crypto leaned back on the couch on which he was sitting, staring at his drink. Why was he even here? Because of Mirage? No, of course not, he didn't come to see him.

He didn't party long, he was feeling uncomfortable and tired...and a little (much) worried. Mirage never pass on out a party, especially if he announced himself 5 times before. There was definitely something wrong with him, first his beaten up face and his strangely quiet attitude... And now he just disappeared? Crypto left the party and went back to Mirages room before heading to his own, but no one answered so he took the freedom to hack the electrical lock of the door and enter. "Witt?"

No answer.

"Elliott?" He was a little surprised to hear himself call out his first name, but his concern made him worry less about his formalities. He looked around in the now familiar flashy apartment, but the searched man wasn't around. A few fresh clothes were laying on his bed, as if he was deciding what to wear, nothing unusual to be honest. The guy cared so much about his appearance and fashion, Tae Joon was actually surprised he didn't had an extra room just for his clothes. He turned on his heel and left the apartment, making sure to lock the door again.

" _Where are you?"_

* * *

"Good, you fulfilled my last order correctly. He won't get away now."

the blonde man laughed darkly and rubbed his hands together grinning evil like some villain of a Disney film. The two men in front of him exchanged relieved looks, they were beaten up with blue eyes and big, bad looking bruises on their body. They were so happy to finally please their boss after failing the previous tasks. They remembered clearly: "He got away?! Are you guys dumb!? He's nothing more than a engineer boy, who acts like he can handle the games, but would shit in his pants if that beastly hunter approaches him. He was drunk too!"  
Their chef was really angry and if they weren't on the edge of falling apart for trying to mess with the legend, the blond would've definitely beaten them up 'till morning.  
"Now bring me this boy, I can't waist more time." The blond waved them out of the room and grabbed his phone when the two left.

* * *

Crypto stared at his screen.

"We don't need your assistance anymore. The job is already taken." The mail said. It's not the first weird mail he received, they started contacting him a week ago. "...we know you're ready to take the job, faceless. Money is no problem." It was one of these mails again, someone asked him, or 'faceless' to get information or access to a Programm or system for money or in exchange with other information. He wasn't a fan of his side job and it was always dangerous, but he couldn't let an opportunity of getting information about the Syndicates or Mila fall and he was considering taking this job. It was just hacking into a computer and giving the access to the other account. In return he would get information about the Syndicate secret data hiding place. A great deal, indeed, that was at least his first thought, but he wasn't dumb. He was checking to who belonged the computer before agreeing to the request, well he tried because now they said "the job is already taken" and deleted the location code. Normally he wouldn't care so much about a taken job, of course he was angry and he ended up checking out of curiosity, who's computer was about to be hacked, luckily he saved the coordinates before. When he found out which poor soul was the host of the PC his face went all pale and he looked like he'd seen death walking pass him.

GzFLocation_4372996_elliott_witt  
(I made this up^^)

Mirage was missing since yesterday now and Path was waiting anxiously and patiently at the entrance. There was no use in telling Mirage about his computer problem, when he was missing. What do they want from Mirage? His pictures? Are they crazy fans? Well he couldn't blame them for wanting his pictures, they would make a lot of money, and are pretty.

" _Damn idiot, where are you?!"_

He left his room and was just about to talk to Path, but stopped right in the doorway of the lounge. Blasey, Paquette Path and Silva were sitting in front of the television. Lifeline walked pass Crypto to join the others and waved him to join too. "What's going o-" he tried to ask, but was silenced by Wattson "shhhh!". She looked really worried.

" _What is happening?"_

He looked at the television. It looked like news and a reporter talked about a tragic event. Cryptos face showed constantly a question mark until he saw the clip the reporter made with his camera team.

* * *

The sky was grey and cloudy. It was like a movie, everything felt unrealistic everything was like a dream. A bad dream of course. He wouldn't feel like his heart was just ripped out of his chest, if this was a good dream. He was broken, he felt like crying, but he couldn't. His eyes were red and swollen and a bitter taste was in his mouth since the first time he knew about it. Since he knew what happened.   
His world was falling apart and he had nothing left to cling on, he was constantly falling down into the black nothingness and he wished he could stay there, stay there with them, with his brothers and with her. He was the only Witt left now.

He didn't care about the reporters, even thought his driver and people he didn't knew tried to get rid of them. One was even filming the funeral. Was filming the broken Mirage in his uniform. Why was he wearing his uniform again? He didn't know. He put her favorite flowers on her now closed grave and hummed her favorite song. The song he played for her on the piano, the song she played for him when he was younger. It was called 'the inch worm'. He knew he started crying again and he felt a hand on his shoulder, but he didn't want to hear their sorry words. He had enough of all the pity, it was suffocating. He couldn't stand them when he was younger too, people who were looking at him with with this look, these eyes.  
Honestly, he likes to be comforted once, he always stayed strong for his mother, who was falling apart, when she heard about her sons. After she knew they went MIA. He always tried to stay strong so his mother wouldn't fall deeper into the endless suffering and he had no one he could rely on, there was no one he could show his weak and unstable self. That's why he never wanted to hear sorry words from other people, they just say 'im sorry for your loss' but they don't mean it, they don't give a shit about it.   
He heard people in the background speaking "such a poor soul, he lost his last family member" "she must've been really sick, why didn't he told the people or anyone before. I bet a lot of people would've given him money for a good treatment..." He gritted his teeth and was clenching his fists. He didn't wanted to hear them, they didn't know anything. He knew what happened, he knew his mother didn't die because of her age or a sickness. She was murdered.

" _Murdered by the same bastards who tried to kidnapp me....!_  
 _It's all my fault...."_


	11. I'm here

Everyone was talking about it and there was a massive pile of fan mail waiting for Mirage. A lot of gifts and letters, such as :I'm sorry for your loss', please get better soon, we love you. But also the creepy kind: now you don't have anyone, why not living with me? I'll take really good care of my favorite legend.   
Crypto looked at the pile of mail and then outside of the window, lost in thoughts.

_is he still on Solace? He even missed one game. Guess they gave him a timeout, a psychical unstable legend is not allowed to play, even thought there are a lot of legends who have some problems, like Natalie or Renee._

Crypto watched the birds in the trees, almost staring at them. He felt weird, he didn't know how to describe it better, but he felt sad. Why was he sad? Because of Mila? Well yes of course, he always is, Mila is his sister and she was the reason why he participated in this game in the first place, but Mila wasn't the cause of his sadness this time. He was sad because of Mirage and he knew that. He sighed frustrated and was about to turn away and distract himself with work or something else, when he noticed the familiar silhouette of a person. He narrowed his eyes to see better, as if he wasn't sure, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing right now. Mirage was walking up the stairs, heading to the entrance, a bagpack on one shoulder dressed all in black. It didn't take long until the others noticed his arrival and when he entered the building, Path was fast to approach the famous legends and pulled him into a metal hug.

"Good friend Mirage! You're back!!!" Mirages bag fell to the ground and he laughed lightly. "Wuoow Path, it's okay I missed you too, no n-need to crush me!" He smiled, but one could see the pain in his face, the emptiness in his lifeless eyes,it made Crypto think about hugging this idiot too, to comfort this poor soul, but he quickly abandoned the idea. Path let him go and Mirage picked his stuff up, throwing the backpack on his shoulder again "I'm going to my room.lets......talk later maybe. I'm quite tired". He didn't say anything about the funeral, didn't make a joke or tried to annoy someone. He just nodded to everyone he met in the hallway and stopped for a moment in front of Crypto, looking at him as if he was about to say something. "Welcome back... Elliott" Crypto said almost inaudible and the other man looked to the ground and nodded a few times before continuing his way to his room. Everyone knew they should give him some space, even Wattson didn't approach him and asked him how he felt, everybody knew he didn't wanted to talk about it, they felt it.

* * *

Crypto was sitting on his bed staring holes into the wall. He couldn't concentrate and he wasn't tired either so sleeping didn't work, even thought he could use a long rest after all these all nighters. He finally broke out of his thoughtless staring and looked at his hands, inspecting once again the synthetic skin on his fingers.

_Why am I so concerned about this idiot? He's annoying but still...I kind of like him...a bit._

Then there was a knock on his door and Crypto glanced to his clock. It was 11pm.

_Who????_

Normally he wouldn't care. He wouldn't bother to open the door, even thought everyone knew he was still awake, but he rose to his feet and opened it for some reason "it's 11pm, isn't it a little bit....late....? Witt?". Elliott stood in front of him, still all in black but he was wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt instead if his formel clothing. He looked to the ground, avoiding Cryptos intense stare "oh- y-yeah I know....sorry I just...I just........ Sorry for bothering you, I sh-ould go I guess." He turned around and was about to leave again,but Crypto stopped him by grabbing his wrist, pulling him into his room and in a thight hug. He closed the door with his foot and felt Mirages trembling while holding him. "It's okay, idiot. Don't worry." Elliott didn't move for a moment. He was surprised by this untypical action of his co-worker, but he soon burried his face into the smaller man's shoulder feeling the tears coming up again. He felt strange, it was different. It wasn't like the hugs he received from others. They sure meant something, a few people really did care about him, but he felt so different with Crypto. It was the first time since long that he let himself be vulnerable in front of somebody else, he didn't need to be strong. He just let Crypto take care of him. He felt comforted.   
They hugged each other a long time, until Crypto pulled away looking into Mirages face. His hand wandered from Elliott's back to his cheek, brushing a tear away with a sad smile. They just looked at each other, locking eyes and if this was a romantic movie they would kiss madly and fall in love, or something like that. At least Elliott thought that. "You...want to talk about it?" Crypto asked with a lower voice, not sure if he was trespassing a line, but Elliott nodded to his relief. "You know, That's why I originally came here..." "Originally? So Your plan changed?" Crypto pulled his hand away and lead him to his couch. "Well.... I didn't thought you would hug me or I didn't know if I was ready to say something, but... I don't mind if it's you.... i-i mean listening to my problems...!" Crypto hit Mirages back of his head lightly "idiot, don't keep quiet about what's bothering you."

_...well I'm not the one to say that... I keep quiet all the time._

"Does that mean we're friends now?" Elliott was sitting next to him, folding his hands in a nervous gesture and stealing glances of the hacker, as if he was shy. Crypto raised his brows while proceeding Witts words.

Friends

Sounds too close for his taste. He always tried to keep his distance to others, but this idiot, this annoyingly handsome and dumb, okay not dumb, co-worker found a way to get through these barriers.   
Elliott looked at him, waiting for an answer and one could see how his eyes light up when the korean answered with a light nod. To see Elliott turning to his old self more and more made Crypto smile and when Elliott saw the light smile on the hackers face, he joined in.


	12. Ian who?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have fun reading it :)  
> ____________________________
> 
> (The whole Drama from Lobas quest isn't included here, means:  
> Caustic and Wattson are still good)

"E-L-L-I-O-T-T. Elliott Witt? Hellooouuuu?" Ian waved with his hand in front of Mirages face, who blinked several times before reacting "Oh- uhm sorry!... I'm just....in thoughts.". Ian looked at him with a sad smile, he knew about Elliott's loss and he knew how it feels like, he went through similar stuff too. The blonde ordered two more drinks for them while listening to Elliott or just sitting there, being solely comfortable company for the lonely trickster.

Elliott was glad to have a friend like Ian, who didn't ask many questions and knew exactly how he felt right now. He was also one of the few people he could show his true self, maybe the only person? He didn't know if he could count Crypto in. They became friends, yes, but... Are they close enough yet? Elliott did feel some kind of connection and he didn't mind speaking freely about his problems and his life with the korean man. Maybe because he knew Crypto would keep quiet about his secrets, maybe because Crypto did have a heart ,which was proven when he saved him and let him stay overnight, but maybe..... because he felt a little bit more than just friendship towards the hacker.

"How's your work going? I mean your engineer stuff." Ian nipped on his glass while looking at Elliott. He was trying hard to distract his smaller friend and Elliott knew that. "Well, I did do some upgrades, but the thing with my mom stopped my working process. I will soon continue and when I'm done, I'll make sure you're the first one to see the changes." The brunette smiled at him, still not fully concentrated on their conversation. He was thinking about Cryptos words from last night, when he paid him a visit. They talked about his mothers death and then Crypto mentioned something about people, who were trying to hack into Elliotts computer. This lead to telling the smaller man about the people who wanted the blueprints and who were definitely the true cause of his mothers death. Elliott didn't told him about the time when he almost got kidnapped by strangers. He didn't know why he kept quiet about it, but he did.

"Really? I'm so honored!" He took a sip of his beverage and Elliott mirrored his action with a small smile. "Nahhh it's nothing special, really." Elliott waved with his hand. "A-nyway thanks for showing up today, it means a lot to me." "You can count on me bro." Ian leaned back in his seat and looked at the ceiling. "You want to visit my workshop today?" His glance wandered back to Elliott, who looked at him confused and then happy. "Oh I would love to- oh wait I have a game tomorrow and my gear is still broken. Another time?". Ian looked kind of disappointed but smiled "yeah that's okay, just don't forget about it like last time." That earned him a playful hit on he upper arm from Mirage "hey I'm not that chaotic and forgetful".

* * *

Crypto was sitting at the lunch table with a rather grumpy facial expression. Caustic, Wattson, Pathfinder and he himself were listening to Mirages talk, even though Mirage was originally only talking to Path and Wattson. Caustic was just sitting there, with his coffee beside him, glancing over the edge of his science book from time to time to Elliott, who was telling his stories with excitement. He was a lot better since he returned a few day ago, smiling and joking again, but there was still this sadness in his eyes. Crypto had joined them not long ago, but didn't say anything since then. He was kind of annoyed. "And I met him a few days ago in the bar again and he offered me to visit his workshop!" Mirage looked kind of proud "wow friend! that's a nice friend you got there!" Paths screen displayed the heart-shaped eyes face and he clapped happily in his robotic hands. "You seem to like him a lot!" Mirage nodded "Of course I do, I trust him. He's a dear friend to me." Mirage smiled and added "you too Path". Wattson chuckled, because of their interactions. Mirage used to be kind of mean to Pathfinder, but he opened up more and more for his not human friend.

Crypto just rolled his eyes. He was annoyed from all this and felt like isolating himself in his room again, but he wanted to stay at the same time and listen to the trickster. He was jealous. Jealous of Ian, Elliot's _dear_ friend, but he would never admit such a thing, never.

_"I don't like this Ian guy...."_

He crossed his arms in front of his chest and huffed in annoyance. "I'm planning on meeting him today too." Mirage said it like he was proud of it. "Urgh..." Tae Joon stood up and was about to leave the little group, feeling Caustics eyes on him, when he made his noise of disgust. Elliott turned around with a questioning look, he didn't really noticed the hacker before and was therefore a little surprised of his presence "oh Crypto, since when-....w-we're are you going?" "Non of your business, Witt" he glanced one last time over his shoulder and left through the door. Mirage looked kind of disappointed and hurt, but felt a little better when Wattson put her hand in a comforting way on his shoulder "what's with him?".

* * *

A rather slim figure walked through the dark alleys closer to the source of the loud noises as if he was a moth, searching for the light. He didn't know what brought him here and when he saw the bright signs of the bar were Elliott worked at, he was hesitating, freezing in place and just staring at it, like he did back in his apartment. His screen was black, turned off and he was still staring at it as if he was inspecting it, as if he was searching for the bug in his program, but he already finished his work for today. He shook his head, stopping the train of thoughts and looked over his shoulder.

_"Should I leave? Why am I here anyway? Moleugessda....I will just check on him. I don't trust this Ian guy ...or the bar since the last encounter with this ... Rape-planning guy...shib-seh-ggi."_

The thought of someone hooking up with Elliott made him angry and he stepped into the bar, his coat floating dramatically. A few people looked at him for a moment, but soon mind their own business, leaving the rather uncomfortable hacker alone. He spotted Elliott after a while, it wasn't really hard to not notice him with his..... outfit. He was wearing a yellow crop top and awfully thight black pants, which seemed like they were made to present this perfect butt of his. Crypto blinked in confusion, even thought this kind of outfit was predictable. His 'ghost machine' skin left not much to the imagination. Crypto couldn't help but check him out. He looked stunning from top to toe. His curly hair was shimmering in the dim lights of the bar and his smile made him blush. "Shibal- ... hot" he held his hand in front of his mouth and looked around, checking if anyone heard him. He couldn't help but blush even more.

_"Jen-jang! What have gotten into me?! I must be frustrated if I think he's hot!"_

* * *

"Sooo, what about going now?" Ian leaned on the table and seemed a little bit nervous as if he couldn't wait to show Elliott his Workshop. The brunette brushed his hair back winking to a girl which passed their table and started to giggle with red cheeks "hmmn it's pretty late, I don't know. I mean- we don't have to rush-" "yes we do!" Ian was standing on his feet all of the sudden ,but he immediately sat down again, embarrassed of his outburst "s-sorry. I'm just-.... Excited to show the great Mirage around. Can't you just come by for a second? It's not far from here." He made eyes like a begging puppy. "Iaaan- I'm not the 'great Mirage' I'm the humble Witt, Elliott Witt." He looked at his friend, who was still begging in silence. "Just a bi-" "Elliott?". There was a third person joining in the conversation all of the sudden. Crypto was standing in front of the table looking at Mirage, not bothering to pay any attention to the other man. The two were looking up to the Korean man. "Oh- C-crypto... what are you doing here? Y-you never show u---up- ..up here. Didn't expect you here...." He grabbed his shirt and pulled at a little bit down, as if he was shy and scared Crypto might judge his Style. "I just felt like coming here today." He said flatly and Elliott laughed nervously in response "uhm...yeah I mean it's a cool place,... my place. You could- visit more often. I would give you a drink for free , wink" he winked and Crypto tried hard to suppress the smile, which was almost triggered by Elliotts flirty winking.

"Well whatever, this is Ian." Mirage gestured to the blond, who was greeting Tae with a nod. They looked at each other, both with cold stares and Elliott knew instantly: these two wont stand each other. "Nice to meet you.... Ian" Crypto said with a fake smile and his thick Korean accent. "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Crypto" Ian returned the fake smile.


	13. let me show you something

Ian suddenly stood up, grabbing Elliott's wrist without a warning which made the man yelp quietly "we gotta go now, or it's going to be too late, Elliott.". "He can't" Crypto answered for Elliott, staring daggers at Ian. The trickster was confused and looked helplessly between the two "It's non of your business hacker boy and he can very well decide for himself." Ian didn't let go of Elliotts wrist, what made Crypto even more annoyed. He turned to the brunette "Elliott, I- ... I need to talk to you... Alone..." Crypto looked at him with his 'its serious' look and the taller man instantly understood. He pulled his wrist out off Ian's grip and was quite for a moment. Crypto could almost hear him thinking by just looking at his face. The handsome bartender turned to Ian again and clasped his hand together in a begging way "Ian, this is really important, I will hurry up. Promise!". Crypto took the freedom to drag Mirage away from Ian, before he even answered. He just watched Mirage being dragged away with a scandalous look.

They were now in a corridor near the toilets of the bar. Crypto pushed Elliott gently against the wall and placed himself in front if him, looking up and down for a moment as if he was checking him out, and he was, because Elliotts outfit was just too ... Was just made to be looked at.

"W-wuow- what are you-....did you just pull me out to flirt with me?" He grinned and put his hand on his hips. His crop top was pulled up ever so slightly and exposed more of his tanned, muscular stomach "you should've told me kid!" He was behaving like the typical Mirage everyone knew from the show, mostly to hide the fact, that he was quite surprised and flustered to be cornered by his crush. He couldn't believe it.

"I would flirt with you some more, but I have plans with Ian already sweetie..soooo we have to continue this another time..." He was about to move away from his spot, but Crypto leaned a little bit closer, trapping Mirage between the wall and himself. "plans with Ian? I don't think so. You will have a little date with me old man". Mirage blushed and went silent. He was used to flirting and it wasn't the first time someone was flirting with him, but it was Crypto of all people, Crypto, the serious, cold- no hot and handsome hacker boy. Elliott looked right into Taes face and his heart was beating so heavily, it felt like it was breaking his ribcage. His eyes were now fixed on the rosy lips in front of him, oh how bad he wished to feel those lips on his own lips, tasting them, testing if they were as sweet as he imagined them. "I'm serious here Elliott." Elliott got goosebumps, when he heard his name spoken in the hackers voice and thick accent. He grabbed his own shirt again to pull it down, like he did before. Crypto looked unmoved and continued "Don't meet this Ian guy. He's suspicious, I can tell he's up to something." Elliott looked at him for a moment and grinned "ohhh I see, you are jealous of him!" He teased and run a finger over Cryptos vest, which was covering his chest "you want me all for yourself huh?". "...." Crypto hit against the wall beside the now shocked Mirage and cornered the startled man with one arm "idiot, I'm not! And this is serious! I'm telling you, he's up to something. Keep your distance to him." This made Mirage angry and he poked at Cryptos chest with his index finger "okay that's en-ough. Ian is a very good friend and he was a---always there when I needed him. Beside, he never thret- threta- threatened me with a knife or offended me unlike a certain person." Crypto didn't move away and stared at Mirage "Elliott listen-" "No! You gonna listen to me now! Nobody is saying bad stuff about my friends!" Elliott was boiling with anger. Tae never saw him like that, it was kind of scary how the 'sunny boy' of all the Apex legends got this worked up and angry. "I didn't said anything offend-" "shut up kid! I know what I'm doing and I know who's trustwor- trustwhi- -fy ... Whom to trust and your pretty face won't change my mind!" He pushed Crypto away and walked back to Ian "have a good night!".

Crypto didn't say anything at all. He just stood there shocked and surprised about what happened just a few seconds ago. Mirage was angry at him and it somehow hurts a lot more than being hit by a peacekeeper in close range.

* * *

"Hey friend" Pathfinder hold up his hand, greeting his fellow legend, who didn't answer so he tried again "hey friend..... frien-" "Pathfinder I heard you just fine...!" Pathfinders screen changed to a crying face, when the other legend answered him in a rather harsh manner. " mihane... I didn't mean it like that! I'm just.... Not in the mood to talk....". Crypto leaned on his ellbows and stared at his coffee. He hasn't exchange one word with Mirage since they met in the bar. Mirage has even been mad at him during the game. He sighed and looked up to Pathfinder, whos screen displayed a question mark "can I help you friend Crypto?". "I dont think so." He finally took a sip of his already cold coffee. "Have you.... Heard about Mirage?". "Oh Mirage!" Pathfinder clapped happily in his metallic hands "we had fun in the town this morning and he told me he's going to see his friend Ian later today in his Workshop"

_"Shibal_ _, this Ian guy again... I know when people are fake and this snake definitely is!"_

Pathfinder was just about to continue when Loba entered the room. "Ah there you are.... _Robot ..."_ She looked at him with an angry look "Wattson was looking for you, you should hurry up." "Oh okay. Thanks for telling me!" Pathfinder waved at Crypto and hopped out of the room. He was always so happy and Crypto wished to be happy like the blue robot too, to have no worries and to be free of everything.... to never ever run from something again.

Loba was fast to fill the robots place "sooo pretty, why so grumpy? Even grumpier than always." She hummed softly. "You know you will get ugly wrinkles if you continue to look like this." "I don't care about looks." He said flatly. He had stopped drinking his coffee, he hated cold coffee, reminded him of long sleepless nights. "You should, because you're beautiful....Sooooo" she leaned on her ellbows "is it about this handsome man? Mirage?" Crypto looked at her, surprised. He didn't understand how she knew that, as if she was spying on him and that wouldn't be too surprising. She waved with her hands ,her nails were glittering in the lights "hey don't look at me like that. I've seen the way you look at him and I can tell he thinks the same about you." "Wh-what...?! I- I don't look at him in any kind of way!" He straighten his back and grabbed his cold coffee to stop his nervous fingers. Loba chuckled amused "oh dear. Stop denying it. You like him, so go and get your wife back." "W-wife?" Cryptos cheek were burning and he felt totally exposed, Loba was right and he knew it. He knew it a long time ago but kept telling himself he wasn't attracted at all. He stood up grabbing his coffee "I-.... Have to go now and do some research." He bowed lightly and hurried out of the room. "Yeah do that, but hurry you should claim him before someone else does."

* * *

"Yes I have him.....yes.... No the hacker won't be a problem.......mhmm.....on my way." The man put his phone away and got in his car. He checked on the unconscious person, bounded and secured on the backseats. "Look at you, thought you could escape us huh? Well think better next time...or at all." The man grinned and started the car, driving into the dark night with an unconscious Mirage on his backseats.


	14. you idiot

"Woooow this is sooo cool, what is this?" Elliott was looking at a weird machine he has never seen in his entire life and he had seen a lot, since his mother was an engineer and he himself too. He felt like someone threw a heavy rock at him and his face was twisted in pain and sadness for a moment, when his mother crossed his thoughts, but he was fast to put his fake facade on before Ian could notice anything.

" _I will soooo revenge her. I will beat everyone responsible up!_ "

"Uhm that's a.... Micro- progressor-... Generator" Ian hesitantly said scratching his neck, which made Elliott laugh "sounds more like a made up name with random words." The young engineer inspected the machine "seems like it wasn't used for a long time. It's a bit dusty and the machine oil is-.... Ewww.... Didn't you say this is the main machine in this worksh-" he couldn't continued because someone knocked him hard on his head, hard enough to knock him out. He was falling forward and his vision got blurry. "Jeez stop talking. How should i know anything about these old machines, im not an nerdy engineer unlike you. Now let's get you out of here.". Mirage couldn't move and he was slowly losing consciousness, feeling more than just betrayed since it was Ian of all people. It wasn't just a friend, it was an really old friend, one he trusted blindly, one he had gone through the nightmarish frontier war, standing side by side while hell was raining down on them. He was a really important friend...or he used to be. His eyes wandered up from Ian's boots to his face and the last thing he saw was the evil grin on Ian's face before the darkness embraced him and swallowed him whole.

* * *

He was tiping like a maniac and it seemed more like he was scanning the text in a matter of seconds with his eyes, than actually reading it. It was nighttime already..or was is it already morning? He didn't know and the only thing which told him how long he's been sitting in front of his laptop, was his rumbling stomach and the light, but steady footsteps of Bangalore, who was on her way to the gym or leaving the building for her morning run. He stopped tiping and stared at his screen. The dark shadows below his eyes let him seem really unhealthy and the light of his screen, the only light in his room, wasn't helping at all. It highlighted his exhausted features even more in fact. "Ian you little rat....!". Crypto got up immediately, grabbing his coat and the wingman he was hiding in his shelf as well, heading out of the room.

_"I should've known earlier...."_

He was really tired and felt his muscles weakening and hurting as he hurried down the hallway, but he didn't care. He had to search for Mirage, now, immediately, there is no time to waste. He ran directly into Bangalore and was falling backwards, but the tall woman catched him and pulled him up again. "Hey, watch your steps." She looked at him and raised one brow as she saw how awful Tae Joon looked "go to sleep, you look like you got hit by a mule." ,"Can't-. Have to find Witt." He was about to move around her and take the stairs to leave, but Bangalore had other plans and just grabbed his arm, turning him around with almost no effort. "No, you're not going anywhere. Witt is fine by himself, why looking for him? Have you already forgotten? he's really mad at you.". She watched him carefully and it was like she was Interrogating him. Cryptos body was too weak to fight himself free if her tight grip, he just looked at her with a serious cold look. The look he always wears on his face. "Yes I know and I know he's in danger, so I'm going to get him out of trouble." "Danger you say?" Loba approached them, her heels clicking with every step she took "why won't you tell us more about this? We might be able to help to get your prince back to safety." She stopped beside Bangalore smiling at her for a moment before turning back to Crypto, who had freed his arm and stuffed his hand in his pockets out of habit ."there's no time to speak about it, I have to move, now.". Anita crossed her arms as she talked "Park, you can't even stand by yourself. You're one of the the smart guys here, aren't you? You should know that you're not in the right condition to fight now." "She's right, so put your gun away and tell us what is going on pretty. We will be more than happy to help." Andrade added and played with her red colored braid and smiled, watching Cryptos confused expression.

" _How did she know about the gun in my pocket?_ "

Crypto looked at the ground for a moment, thinking and finally nodded. He knew he couldn't do anything in his current state, but he couldn't take a break. He couldn't sleep while this idiot, his idiot might be in great danger. His chest tightened at the thought of loosing him and he wasn't denying that he **was** worried about Mirage this time. "Why do you want to help?". Bangalore laughed and hit his shoulder playfully "hey he's one of us and so are you, Park."

* * *

Elliott woke up in his bed. He was home, he was alive, he was save. He sat up and looked around and saw his reflection in a mirror.

_"Was there always a mirror?"_

He was a kid, no doubt. No scars on his face the big goggles, which he was always wearing in the game were hanging around his neck and he had his little tooth gape. There were toys on the ground, his favorite toy car, on which he was working with his newly bought screwdriver, was laying beside his brothers dinosaur. Elliott chuckled softly and jumped down from the big bed to go and look outside through the big window of his room. The sun was shining bright, his brothers were working in the garden and playing soccer, they always did. He wished he could join them, but his knee wasn't doing all to well since he had this accident in his mothers workshop. He was sulking and crossed his arm in front of his chest like this tv figure did in the last episode of his favorite serie until he heard the sweet tones of a piano.

" _Mom!"_

He ran downstairs and didn't even notice how he grew taller and older with every step. It was like he was in some sort of time machine. Every step, every movement made the time pass by. He was no kid, not anymore. He was a young adult, no beard and wild curly hair standing up everywhere from his head. He didn't even questioned it and walked over to his mom, the voices outside went silent as he stood beside her. "..." He was close to his present self as Evelyn stopped playing the piano, tears were dripping down from her cheeks on her shivering hands "they will never come back, t-they took them away, my poor babys....! Why is this world so cruel?!" His mother looked at him with these eyes, sobbing and breaking down into tears. Eyes full of pain and sadness. He had seen it before, he knew that look all to well and it broke his heart to see it again. He once saw this look when he returned from war, alone. His brothers gone, they all went missing during action and left the holo pilot engineer alone with his mother. He remembered how he had to be strong or act strong, he remembered the day, when Mirage was born, the day everything started.   
He always liked to fool around, do some silly tricks and pranks. He was once Elliott witt the great magician, a trickster, but he never went as far as faking himself to defend himself and his mom.

"M-mom...?" He was crying too, big tears were rolling down his red cheeks as he reached out for her. She didn't move, just looked at him as if he was a ghost, as if she was talking to the spirit of her dead youngest son. He was reaching out to her to console her or maybe himself, but his hands went through her body as if she was only made out of thin air, as if she was one of his previous decoys, without any physical body, an illusion made by himself, a ghost. She smiled as she disappeared and left him completely alone in their now dark apartment. A lovely apartment with a lovely family was now empty and lifeless. A house full of memories of his beloved, all gone. He was left alone, standing there with nothing, but memories of better times, of happy times and also bad memories. His heart ached as he heard their voices inside his head, his brothers mocking him for being a nerdy engineer, his mom calling him ell bell, his mom ... forgetting him. Everything will be forgotten. Will he be forgotten too? Will no one ever remember him? Have they already forgotten him?

They surely have.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't want to call it -a christmas gift- ,since it's sad :(  
> anyway, i hope you're still enjoying the story
> 
> Stay healthy!


	15. please don't die

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter in my reserve :0  
> I'm not sure when the next chapter will appear since im busy laerning for my studies^^  
> I will try my best!
> 
> Also: i realized my chapters are quite short... Maybe I'll write more in the following chapter/s.
> 
> Don't be too shy to leave comments!

A big bucket with cold water was emptied over Mirage and he gasped in shock as he woke up from his unconscious state. He blinked several times, his hands were cuffed behind his back, a little bit like in his previous dream with Crypto, well just the cuffed hands, because he didn't felt comfortable with his situation right now at all. He was sitting in a small room with only a few lights, which illuminated it in a creepy way. In front of him was a blond man, non other than his dear friend Ian, looking at him with these eyes. Eyes which were full of concern and understanding now full of disgust and hatred towards the trickster.

"Look at you, where did the great Mirage go? Did he vanish like your decoys do?" He chuckled "You look so pathetic right now." Ian put the bucket to the side and stood in front of Elliott, who was still bound to his chair. He tried to wriggle his way out and escape, but he soon realized it was no use, he was trapped. He looked up at his friend,.... enemy? Was he even his enemy? He didn't know, he couldn't understand. "Why?" His voice was raspy and rough.

How long has he been knocked out? A few hours? Days?  
He was so dizzy and confused, he was wondering if this was just a dream, a nightmare.

" _This is just a dream. I will wake up in my bed and everything will be fine. Ian can't be evil...why should he betray me after all we went through together..?"_

He was thinking to himself, but his head cleared up more and more and he got aware of his silly lie. This wasn't a dream it was all real.

He was getting cold because of the water which was drenching his clothes. It was really cold in this room in general, he could even see his own red nose and the little clouds he made with every breath. Ian looked at him with an evil grin. He seemed so... different. Like he was a different person " **Why** you ask? Because of this little guy in there." Ian was poking at Elliott's forhead. The brunette looked up to his former friend with shock "W-wait y-you don't pl-a-an on taking my brain?!". The thought alone terrified him, would he be like Revenant later on? Only a head without a living body? But why?

Ian chuckled at Elliotts expression "hmm well we can do this too, at least your annoying mouth would shut up for once an for all.". Mirage wanted to say something, but he kept quiet for now. "Look, we want you to work for us. You don't need to fear anything, we won't hurt you as long as you do what we want." "And if I don't?" Elliott looked really serious now, maybe the most serious look, one has ever seen on his face. "If you don't want to cooperate-" the blond pulled out a knife and held it against the forhead of the famous Apex legend "we will turn you into a robot with all this information in your little head here. You can't even disobey at this point.".

_"I'm in great trouble....He's insane!.."_

_"_ You won't get away with this Ian. I'm a legend, they will look for me! I- I have **tons** of fans!! Are you really that dumb to just kidnap me without thinking about my populi- popoluty- politarity- .... With my famousness getting in your way?" Elliott sounded bitter even thought he was stuttering, his eyes suddenly catched the familiar other face. It was the tanned great build man, who tried to drug and take him with him.

Ian just laughed at him "pah! You think anyone is coming for your rescue?" He wiped a imaginary tear out of the corner of his eye "Here, look at this" he pulled out a tablet and tipped for a moment on the screen before showing it Mirage. It was the live stream of the apex games and the moderator was talking excitedly "ouuuu that was a nasty shot of Pathfinder, right between her eyes!" Mirage looked with big round eyes at the screen as water drops were dripping down from his curly hair. "T-they are... Continuing?" Elliott's heart ached as he saw Crypto passing one of the streaming cameras.

" _He is too....?"_

 _"_ Yes. They said you were still psychically weak and not in shape of competing in the games." Elliott looked up, his face all pale, almost like a sheet of paper, which made Ian grin wider as the feeling of triumph grew "They don't care about you, not even your friend Crypto does, if he even was your friend. They will forget you sooner or later, or already have."

* * *

"I can't believe they made us play the game without him. I just did my nails when They dragged us on the drop ship." Loba looked with an angered face at her ruined nails before continuing "Why are they trying to hide the fact that their greatest legend is missing, maybe even abducted?" Bangalore looked at her with a raised brow but smiled at her in the end "you're still pretty, girl. Now concentrate on our mission here".

The two lady's and Crypto have met up at Mirages bar. They originally planned on working on their plan in Bangalores room, but Rampart was reaching out for them after the game and asked them if they know anything about her lost roommate. She knew Elliott was missing and she missed her dumb bro and landlord Mr Witt a lot, so they let her know about their little rescue mission.

Crypto was leaning against the wall tiping something on his green holoscreen in front of his face as Rampart joined the little group with some glasses. "Sorry just needed a bathroom break and I thought this would better the grim mood. Drinks on me!" She grinned and her cute tooth gape was to be seen. Bangalore greeted her with their little handshake like they always did "glad we have you in our team" loba waved at the younger girl and wanted to say something, but Crypto suddenly closed his screen and spoke up "look at this please". Everyone's attention was on Crypto, who linked his screen with the tablet to show his newly found information. He pointed at a map. "This is the 'workshop' he visited" "but mate" Ramya Interrupted him "I know this place, it's been shut down for a long time now.". Bangalore looked quite serious and even Loba stopped looking at her nails "Ya, I know. This place is abandoned and his friend Ian is probably not that friendly after all.".  
"So you're saying his friend took him? I mean his fake friend?" Rampart put the drinks on a nearby table as she spoke. She was looking quite serious now and even stopped dancing or blowing bubblegum bubbles (dunno if this is right^^). "Yeah..." Crypto said and everyone went silent for a moment. There were too many unanswered questions and no one had a clue where their silly friend might be.

Loba suddenly stood up from her seat and put her hands on her wide hips "I have the feeling the syndicate knows more than they admit to. I will investigate on that. If they really wanted their 'money machine' back, they would've acted already.". "Yes, the syndicate.... Isn't what it seems to be." Crypto got quieter. He couldn't help but be reminded of the day when Mila disappeared. What if the syndicate was behind Elliotts disappearing too? He knew this was a dumb thought, but it wasn't that implausible too. It was the syndicate after all.

Bangalore looked at them and nodded "I will help too" "Sorry beautiful, but this is a job for a sneaky person like me. I will go alone." Loba answered and left the room while swinging dramatically her hips. "Fine. Take care soldier." Bangalore gave in and took a glass from ramparts tablet looking at Crypto, who was staring outside of the window. "What will we do now? Just wait?" Ramya asked the two older Legends and both of them looked at her for a moment before Crypto suddenly spoke up again. "I think.... I have an ide-....." He grabbed his jacket and was about to leave in a hurry. "Hey where are you going Park!?" Bangalore stood up and wanted to follow him "be right back! Wait here!" He said as he stormed out of the room, leaving two confused women alone.

" _right! Why didn't I think of that sooner?! Shibal!_ _Please_ _don't die, idiot"_


	16. Bloody hell!

_"Shit...!"_

There was a quite rustling and the man in black turned around and stopped walking down the corridor, which made the thief hold her breath for a moment. He didn't see her, did he? the man looked around, not sure of what he might've heard and she was already considering to knock him out before he could alarm anyone else. A quick strike and he would be out cold...not dead, she wasn't plannign on murdering the Syndicate guards. her fingers were twitching as she repositioned, but he turned on his heel again and started to whistle to himself as he continued his patrol. Loba sighed relieved and jumped down from her hiding spot with a quiet click of her fancy boots when they met the polished floor. She didn't expect so many guards in this part of the building, but it was the Syndicate, what was she expecting? A welcoming tea party? Of course not.

She quickly went to the door on her right and unlocked it with ease. It was something she used to do all the time so this little secret mission was just made for her. She entered the rather messy room and closed the door behind her, checking for possible escape routes, before walking like a model to the shelf, which was filled with countless folders. She found nothing interesting until she passed the table. There was a laptop and the user was still logged in. 

"Lucky me.."

She tiped away,looking for anything useful. She finally found a very interesting chat history between a Mr. Buckingham and Mrs. Jäger.

___________

[Laura Jäger , 6:36 pm] This is a fucking DISASTER! We cant just leave him there?! We will loose a lot of viewers and we can't sell the Mirage merche after a few months of his absence. It will be just like the forge museum - Nobody will be interested in him after a while. We need him back Buckingham! We will be broke in no time!

_"Tsk- Of course, everything they are interested in is their profit... Nothing new"_

[My ACC , 6:39 pm] Haven't you listened to chief?! He said: We CAN'T get him back without giving them access to our scientific research and they WILL harm him, if we try to get him out. And they will tell everyone they have him in their grasp. We can't effort this.

They may have one engineer, but com'on - he's nothing compared to his mother. also it would be even worse when they figure out the-....the thing...

...you know what i mean.

[Laura Jäger , 6:39 pm] I know... it's better than letting them into our system, but we can't let them go that easily. They even went as far to kill his mother, I think we are in some deep sh#t.

[My ACC , 6:42 pm] we are... let's see what Mr. Taylor will order next, but for now: Keep quiet and don't let the legends or anyone know.  
Oh also: I heard they plan on locking the legends down for safety reasons. We don't know if they will try and abduct some of these weirdos too. We absolutely can't loose another one. Imagine what they will do if they have Paquettes tech!

___________

Loba closed the file after copying the chat and transferring it to a USB stick, she carried with her all the time. She couldn't believe what she just read and it made her really angry. Not as angry as Revenant, but that's another story. She swung her thick braids over her shoulder as she straightened her back. The pretty thief was just about to leave the room, when a interesting looking paper catched her attention. "....Tae Joon Park?" 

* * *

"Mate, how are you planning on tracking him when you're holding his phone in your hand?" Rampart snorted at Park after he explained the two ladies his plan, showing them Mirages phone. "I'm not going to track down Eli- ...Witts Phone. I'm going to track down this Ian guy with the help of this phone." Crypto looked at Bangalore for a moment, who had nudged him with her ellbow, "oh~ you calling him by his first name now? You two surely have improved your relationship" Rampart snorted again and smiled at the hacker with a toothy grin. Crypto felt his cheek heatening as he looked away for a moment, trying to hide his expression "I'm not in some sort of special relationsship with him- unsu nappeuge..." he audibly breathed in before continuing, "stop making jokes, we have a job to do.". The two ladies nodded to Cryptos relieve and didn't ask any further.

He sighed and smiled lightly. Their little comments did ease the tense mood and he felt his tired muscles relax a bit more. He never thought he would trust anyone in this world anymore beside his family...or what was left of it, but these stupid coworkers of him did make him feel... weird... safe- maybe? He was still not letting his guard down, because that would've been very stupid. The syndicate had their eyes and ears everywhere and it was a risk to tell anyone something about him, until he made 100% sure they wouldn't pass his words to someone else.... but that was practically no one. Everything could be used as a weapon against him. If someone happened to know about his liking towards the trickster....  
He didn't want to think what might've happen to the poor man. On the other side, Mirage was already in deep shit. Not thanks to him, but what isn't now could still be a thing in the future and he doesn't plan on risking Elliotts life. 

Crypto was already tiping away on his screen while Rampart walked in and out to bring some guns and other gear from her workshop "Make sure to giv'em back to me. Alright mates? I still have a shop running and I'm not rich either, haha." She took the glass and sipped on it, making a face as the alcohol hits her tongue.

Bangalore was still watching Crypto as Rampart excused herself again, "Something wrong?" Crypto asked only glancing up for a moment to meet the officers eye. She hesitated and looked like she wanted to say something, but kept quiet and dragged her eyes over to the window for a slight moment. You wouldn't have notice if you weren't watching her. She spoke up again, but Crypto was sure, it was something different then what she started before. "I just thought it's funny how the 'I don't care about anyone and keep my secrets to myself' guy, became friends with a big mouth like Mirage... going even as far as to safe him on your own, regardless the danger. Let me tell you what soldier. NEVER go into a fight against the world on your own."

That was pretty much how Tae Joon Parks life was. Fighting against the world all by himself. He lost everything and everyone was against his former self, against Tae Joon Park. He had to change, become someone else and leave everything behind, just to survive and show them the truth. He nodded a bit absent minded and received a hard pat on his shoulder form the soldier in return "You're not alone Park." 

_"Not anymore and I don't plan on lossing the one who made me realise this. We will get you out, Elliott."_

* * *

They threw him into the room and he couldn't help but groan in pain, when his shoulder hit the hard metallic ground. His body was already bruised from the hits he recived, when he actually managed to escape the room he was trapped in before. They then took off his whole gear and even made him strip down, just to see if he had other little surprises hidden somewhere. The way the tanned man looked at him in the process disgusted him to say at least. He was still looking at Elliott, like he did back then at his bar. As if he wanted to do things to him and Elliott was pretty sure the man would if he was allowed to. His eyes were like these of a preditor, looking at him like he was some kind of prey. He was just waiting for the right moment to strike and thats scared Mirage.

They gave him different clothes, a casual shirt and black pants...and working clothes, because that's the only reason he was here for. It was, what they wanted from him and he didn't plan on giving it to them without a fight. He will never tell them what his mother taught him and what he invented all by himself. Not as long as he was still sane. Not as long as he was still himself.

That was almost a month ago.

Or so he thought. He stopped counting the days, when he fainthed due to stress or exhaustion. He didn't even know when the day started or when it ends since he didn't got to see sunlight or a clock. He missed it so much... He missed to be outside. He missed a comfortable bed. The games, Pork chops, his friends... and he fucking missed Hyeon Park. And he couldn't help but cry as the thought, that named person didn't care about him and left him to die in his captors hands, passed his mind. It was the cruelest thing to him and every minute locked inside this prison was like torture to him. His hopes were faiding, like a dying light, slowely. And even thought there were little sparks and a flickering, one thing was certain: It will die sooner or later. 

He's been transferred more than once. Everytime with a blindfold, just to be greeted to another made up workshop. To work there on a project, they called 'the Bee'. It was only a part of a big thing and he suspected it to be some sort of fighting machine. A robot... a killing machine, which will be invinsible like a ghost. Something maybe even scarier than revenant himself. Something that should never be in the wrong hands. Elliott was suffering and everytime he was slacking at work he got punished. He was already used to the humilation he endured, the pain he suffered mentally and physically with every passing day. It really couldn't get any worse, right? That was at least what he thought until one specific day:

Elliott was looking for a fitting screwdriver when he heard shouting and some wild gunfire. He heard footsteps outside the room he was locked in and he suddenly woke up from his trance, looking around.

_"Wh-What?! What is happening? Is there a rescue troup? Are they coming to get me out of this nightmare?!"_

He didnt hesitate and started to kick in the door with new energy and hope filling his whole body. To his surpridse knocked him out when the door swung open, the lock broken by the hard impact. He left the room behind as fast as he could, running torwards the noises until he reached some sort of balcony. The gunfire got louder and the yelling even more angressive than before. He looked down seeing men and women in black being killed. They were all part of this organisation so he didn't pity them in the slightest. His eyes roamed the room for an exit but got fixed on a certain man. 

A man he knew very well. A man he loved with his whole heart. He almost screamed his name, when Crypto ran behind cover, a R-301 in his arms. He wanted to help them so bad, wanted to get out breath the fresh air and just kiss Crypto and hold him in his arms forever, even thought that would be a bad idea since Park was probably not interested in Elliott, but that was something of less importance now. Park killed two more armed men and Bangalore appeared out of the corridor, running straight to the next cover, pushing the enemies further into the building by her action. And then Tae Joon suddenly looked up to Elliott. It was like something snapped in his brain as they just looked at eache other, getting less aware of their surroundings. They were trapped in each others eyes and tears of joy were dripping down Elliotts cheek. Not caring how disgusting he must look right now. His beard not trimmed and his face bruised and swollen. He smiled for the first time since for ever and his hands were shaking. Elliotts heart made a flip when Hyeon smiled back.

_"Fucking god, I missed you so much..."_

But faith apparently didn't plan on letting them reunite and Mirages smile disappeard from his beaten face. Everything just happened too fast. In one moment Mirage was lovestruckt and in the other, the tanned man appeared behind Crypto and shot him in the back with a Spitfire, before he himself swallowed a bullet from someone else. Cryptos body was falling down like a lifeless sack of potatos, not moving as the gund slidd across the battlefield "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Elliott screamed and some people where looking up too him. He could hear Rampart screaming somewhere and he was just standing there in horror. "CRYPTO!" Someone grabbed him from behind and dragged him away, but all he cared about was the man in black, lying on the ground like all the other killed people. He was struggeling with all his might but it was no use as multiple people held him and dragged him away, away from the fight, away from his friends, away from Crypto.

* * *

It was raining like crazy as he got pushed inside some sort of ship. He would've enjoyed the smell of fresh air instead of machine oil and sweat, but he couldn't stop crying. Couldn't help but falling apart as he had finally lost everything he held dear. And the worst thing was: it was all his fault. They died because they tried to safe him, because of **him**. He just wanted to put a gun against his head and kill himself here and now. The storm got angrier and so did the people behind him. A bright flash in the corner of his eyes appeard momentally, lightening the dark surroundings, but there was no noise, no thunder following, but Mirage didn't care. The building got smaller again and everything he could think of was Crypto. The way he called him an idiot, his mean jokes and comebacks after he made a joke about his nerdy character... His smile... everything lost now. Everything just gone, like his decoys vanishing into a thousand blue pixels. Someone grabbed him from behind and put that all too familiar blindfold on once again, but he didn't struggle. Not this time... There was no deed to struggle anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A long chapter to make up for the long wait!   
> Please don't kill me for what I've done to them :'( I'm sry ok?


End file.
